Cry Me A River, I'm Suffering
by CyndarDragon
Summary: Set after DotD. Spyro and Hunter are alone together in Avalar, but then Hunter collapses for no apparant reason. Is he really transforming into a half-dragon that never existed? Rating for blood and pain. LOTS of Greek and Roman stuff. Pretty cool.
1. Collapsing

**Random thought that came to me in bed.**

**Enjoy!**

**P.S. this is set **_**after**_** Dawn of the Dragon.**

**P.S.S. Enjoy again! Don't forget to review!**

Spyro was sitting next to perhaps his best buddy other than the love of his life, Cynder, and his brother, Sparx. In the Valley of Avalar, a small purple dragon sat next to his much larger friend; a cheetah named Hunter. Underneath large tree, they watched the sunset. The grass was still it's usual bright-green color, and the sky was turning into glorious shades of purples, yellows, oranges and reds. If it weren't for Hunter, he may have been dead by now. Hunter was one of the things that kept him going…even though Cynder was the real one who technically 'forced' him to save the world. Their lives were just too darn important for him.

The two were still sitting in silence, not saying a single word. Cynder and Sparx were with the other cheetahs of the village, dancing and doing whatever it is that they felt like. Hunter and Spyro just felt like being next to each other, doing nothing else but just stare at the sunset. All was just silent until Hunter began to speak.

"You know, you're lucky that you even get to see this sunset on this planet right now."

"I know." Spyro said quickly. Hunter just looked over at his friend and smiled warmly.

"Don't worry now, my friend. It's all over. No more worrying. You will have a wonderful life with Cynder and you two will have many children. Or at least you better because I want to help out with baby dragons." Spyro laughed slightly at Hunter's encouragement. "You will both be happy and get to live to be very, very old."

"Thanks Hunter." Spyro closed his eyes and smiled. "I want a little blue baby girl named Cinderella." Hunter laughed.

"You might as well."

"You seem to have much more of an interest in dragons than what you do with your own village."

"I love dragons, Spyro. I am very found of your kind. Except for Malefor, but he was dragged down into Hell by other dragon spirits. Those spirits went back up to Heaven, but Malefor will forever be in torture for the terrible things that he has done. He will _not_ come back." Spyro closed his eyes again as he listened to Hunter speak.

"I know that Cynder and I feel the same for each other, but I'm always just afraid to say so. I don't know why." His cheetah friend just smiled.

"Tis alright, my friend." He said in his usual accent. "It's just the feeling of being unsure. You don't have to say it in order for her to believe, you know. Just keep her happy, and then she'll know for sure. I know of that." He winked at his draconic friend and placed a hand below his wing bone.

Spyro thought that he heard something rustling in the other trees nearby. He looked over there, but saw nothing. It must have just been a squirrel or some other small animal. He sighed and looked back out at the sunset. But then he heard it again…and along with it, a low growl. Spyro stood up and looked behind them, but still, he did not see any enemy of any kind.

"What's the matter?" Hunter said, looking slightly concerned for his friend.

"There's something in the trees over there…." He said lowly. Hunter stood up and grabbed his bow-and-arrow, readying it for anything that might mean harm. It wasn't himself that he was concerned about, it was Spyro. When nothing was heard for a while, they just smiled at each other and calmed down. Must have been hearing things?

No, they weren't just hearing things.

A gust of wind blew over them, and Hunter lifted his head in the air, sniffing it. His eyes widened as the unfamiliar scent said something that he feared.

"Spyro, you must fly away. NOW!" Spyro turned to his friend and saw that he had his arrow ready to shoot at something. The purple dragon turned around again and saw that right there, only ten feet away from them, was a giant, angry, mother grizzly _bear_.

Spyro just remained still as the sow started growling viciously. Hunter seemed petrified for once, and ceased his fire. They just stared at each other.

"Let go of the arrow." Spyro said sternly. He was basically just saying to Hunter to kill the bear, but Hunter just stayed still. He didn't move a single muscle. He just stood there…not even breathing. "Hunter…_let go of the arrow._" Spyro said again, taking a step back. Hunter's grip on the arrow loosened, and he lowered it. Suddenly, the tall cheetah started panting. "Hunter?" Spyro asked, looking in concern for his friend.

His friend's eyes started fluttering and he wasn't looking too good….

Then he collapsed on the ground.

"HUNTER!" Spyro called out, only to see the bear beginning to charge at them. He took in a breath and blew out fire all over the bear, closing his eyes and listening to the screaming roars. When they stopped, he looked at Hunter. He wasn't moving…and he wasn't breathing.

Spyro flew back to the village as fast as he could. Once he reached them, he screamed at the top of his lungs (now _that_ is loud.) It sounded like he was being murdered, but he was really just trying to get their attention. He landed down on the ground roughly, everyone gathering around him in worry.

"Spyro? What's the matter?" Cynder said.

"Chief Prowlus!" Spyro called out. Prowlus came out from the group and in front of Spyro. "Does Hunter have any sort of medical issues or any history of an illness or disease?"

"He…" The chief's expression loosened. "…he had a heart failure when he was a cub. He had undergone drastic surgery, and within time it managed to heal. He had taken on archery to help recover, and then he became the strongest among us. But then one day he just collapsed on the ground, and we didn't know why. He's had a history of asthma, and his mother had cerebral palsy. His father had diabetes, and his grandmother had cancer."

"Holy cow, that guy's dead." Sparx said, only to get scornful glares from everyone.

"We tried to figure out why he collapsed, but then the day later, when he started to awake, he started having multiple seizures and couldn't speak. It took him a year to recover, but even after that, he continued blacking out, hallucinating, and collapsing for no apparent reason." There was a silence for a while. "What happened to him?"

"He just fainted on the ground and he wasn't breathing."

Just with those words, everyone from the village rushed out to where they once were.

When they arrived to where Hunter was, they saw him laying down helplessly on his side, blood draining out of his mouth, but no wounds on him. Spyro started crying as he watched his very close friend being carried away, limp in the other's arms.

"We need to get him back!" His carrier called back.

**That was actually fun but depressing at the same time to write. I hope that it didn't tear anybody up…or bring back terrible memories.**

**Your not alone. I have those bad memories, too.**

**On a different subject, please…REVIEW!!! :D :D :D**


	2. Blood, Tears, Screams

**Enjoy! Thanks to anyone who just so happens to review!**

**Chapter…uh…2...whatever.**

**Just read it.**

They had managed to bring Hunter back to the village safely, but things were going too good. Spyro tried not to cry as he sat outside of the hut where his friend was. He could hear him screaming and yelling in pain, and all what the dragon could think was that he should be in there, holding his hand and mumbling prayers and encouragement. But they wouldn't let him in, despite Hunter's wishes.

"Just…let…him…in…here…." The cheetah sat between bloody, clenched teeth.

"He can't see you right now, Hunter." The doctor had said, only to be stumbled by Hunter's reaction to even the slightest physical element that made contact with his body.

He had been given a pain medication made from special plants, but after an hour, it was obvious that it wasn't working. They risked an overdose and gave him whatever it was that they had, but nothing worked. The only thing that they could think of was knocking him out so that he wouldn't feel anything, but they didn't know how.

"Spyro? Are you okay?" Cynder said, coming up to her friend who had tear-soaked paws, and a tear-stained face.

"I'm okay…something's wrong with Hunter and I don't know what." Cynder closed her eyes as he heard a pain-filled cry from inside of the hut.

"I sure hope that he'll be alright." Cynder said and laid down next to Spyro.

"Hey, don't worry buddy, Hunter will be alright!" Sparx said, fluttering in front of the purple dragon with a smile. His smile then faded as he saw that Spyro was just staring to the ground, ignoring him. After a while, he said,

"I have every reason to worry, and he won't be alright." Spryo said, choking on a couple tears.

"He'll be alright, Spyro." Cynder reassured, kissing him on the side of the face. Normally, that little kiss would surprise Spyro and brighten up his mood to 100%, except for this time. The kiss didn't really matter right now. In fact, to him, it didn't seem to matter at all.

"Just leave me be…I'm just going to wait." Cynder stood up and Sparx fluttered away with her. Perhaps it was best that they left Spyro there alone for a little while…although they had no clue as to how he could bare to listen to the hollering inside.

Spyro couldn't listen to this any longer. Just the screams and the pain that he knew his friend was feeling…just _everything_…his medical history wasn't too good, either. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor had come out and Spyro stood up, ready to listen to anything that he says.

"Hunter is…he's…look, Spyro, you're going to cry once you get the news."

"I don't care. Just tell me."

"Hunter is dying."

Everything in Spyro's world just went cold. Everything seemed to stop as his heart began sinking to the bottom of his muscular chest. Everything stopped…the world was still…the bird's beautiful songs meant nothing…everything was just so cold now.

"He's…_dying_?" Spyro repeated.

"He wants to say goodbye to you. But I warn you, things are really bloody in their." Spyro still walked inside of the hut anyways. The doctor was right, though. The floor had pools of blood on it and the bed that Hunter was on was stained red. Hunter's fur was smeared with his own blood, and he wasn't breathing very good. It was the type of breathing that you would expect an erratic heartbeat to go with it.

"Hunter?" Spyro said, tears rolling down the side of his scaly purple face. Hunter didn't respond back to him. He was laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling, but in his eyes, there was a great deal of pain being shown.

"Spyro…." He said weakly, blood still seeping out of his mouth. He turned his head and looked at his small dragon. He tried to smile, but it only came out to a pained expression that looked as if it was about to cry. But then again, Hunter _was_ crying. "…you came."

"Of course I came, pal." Spyro said and sniffled a little, wiping a tear from his right eye.

"I feel like I'm already dead…but yet at the same time alive. I'm in a great deal of pain, but at the same time, I don't feel like dying." Spyro was confused at Hunter's words.

"You feel like you're dead…but don't feel as if you're dying?"

"Exactly." Hunter began to coughed and rolled over onto his side, only to be hacking up more blood from inside of his lungs. Spyro put his front paws up on the bed and clung onto Hunter's blood-stained hands. "If I really am dying, Spyro, then I just want to say goodbye." Hunter closed his eyes and started breathing slowly, trying to get his pain under control.

"No, it's not goodbye, Hunter. You'll live to be a ripe-old age and you'll get to have many of my children to hold. Whenever that will be…but I promise you that you'll get several dragonlets. Not just one, _many_. You can help! Just please don't leave Hunter. Please not now…." Spyro squeezed his eyes shut and started quivering with tears.

"Don't cry my friend. That's one of the _last_ things that I want to see from you." Spyro opened up his eyes to look into Hunter's, but then a flashy sparkle caught his eye. Spyro looked over to where Hunter's tail was, only to do a double-take. His tail was…silver.

"Hunter…your tail." Spyro said, looked at it oddly. He walked to the other side of the bed and grabbed hold of his friend's long tail. It didn't have fur anymore, but rather, it had silver scales. "You're tail is…a dragon's tail." If Hunter could have turned his head around to look at it, or if he had enough strength to even _move_ his tail, then he would have. But then a sharp bolt of pain coursed throughout the cheetah's body, and it hit him like a rattlesnake striking.

He started Spyro when he became screaming again, except this time, it was more hoarse and he started convulsing in his bed. Spyro ran around to the other side quickly and tried to hold his friend down.

"Hunter! What's happening?"

"I don't know…I…." He continued to thrash around, then once Spyro's grip loosened, he rolled over onto his other side.

"Should I get someone?!" Spyro said, although it was more like a high-pitch yell.

"That's not going to do anything!" Hunter curled up into a pained ball of fur and blood and continued screaming.

Spyro had no clue what to do. Things were _not_ good right now, and what makes it even worse is that Hunter's pain was getting worse. It started to become so bad, that it made Spyro regret what he was saying. If Hunter died right now, then he wouldn't feel any pain anymore, which made Hunter beginning to _wish_ for death.

Once his friend stopped moving around and screaming, he flipped him over onto his back, but he only remained curled up into a ball, almost as if he were trying to protect his insides from something that was invisible. Then, when Hunter loosened, his diaphragm and stomach-area started bleeding uncontrollably. This was a little strange and completely stumbling, since he didn't have any scratch or scar marks on him in that area.

Hunter had fear rush up his back as he started to pull his shirt up to see what was happening. Spyro held his breath as he saw all of the blood forcing itself out of him.

He wiped some of the blood away and saw that there were silver scales growing underneath, but the moment that just _one_ of the scales were touched, he flinched back in pain. Hunter squeezed his eyes shut and whispered, "Just kill me…just let me die…." Those words pained Spyro to hear them. Now Hunter was _begging_ for death.

"You're not going to die, Hunter. I promise. Things will get better." Hunter started panting again, still pressing his arms into his stomach area. That was when he started groaning and screaming again. Spyro reached over and grabbed a small block of wood and placed it in Hunter's mouth. This way, he could bite something else _other_ than pieces of his mouth.

"Please Spyro, I'm begging you…just please, all I ask is that you kill me now…make me die…I can't take this anymore…kill me…." Spyro looked at his bloody paws and then back to Hunter's pained expression.

"Should I leave you be?" Spyro asked, not noticing the fact that Hunter's blood had been smeared against Spyro's face, chest, back, and arms.

"Don't leave. Aaaaa!" Hunter rolled himself over again onto his other side, then forced himself out of the bed.

"Hunter, you can't be--"

"I have to get out of that bed…I feel something…terribly wrong…." Hunter staggered into the middle of the room and collapsed there on his knees, bending forward, his arms still pressed against the new scales. Spyro walked over to his friend, annoyed by the metallic smell of blood. Spyro wrapped one wing around his friend as he screamed in pain; his fur becoming knotted and tight.

What was when his back muscles started to convulse. It was like something was trying to _push_ it's way through Hunter's back, trying to get out to the open air. Spyro backed up a little bit, the deep and hoarse screaming hurting his ears. His skin on his back started to break, forcing the blood gushing out. Then there came what looked like bone, two wing bones, that were pushing themselves out. Upon the sight, Spyro ran out of the hut to warn the others and ask for advice.

"Hunter is just at the end of his life. He's going to be in pain, Spyro. Especially with what he's going through…we don't know what it is that he has. He's going to be screaming for Heaven-knows-when."

"No, Prowlus, you're not understanding!" Spyro debated with Prowlus for a while. But while he was gone, this happened.

Hunter ceased his screaming and looked off to his left. He saw a silvery-white, silky, skin wings that were bloody and dripping with the red liquid, and they were looming over his sides. He looked to his right and heard the same thing, but instead of being scared like heck, he just looked at them , ignoring the taste of blood in his mouth as it continued to seep out. He managed to bring his tail into sight and saw that a spike had grown on the end. But because his screaming had ceased, that alarmed the people of the village. The lack of noise made it seemed as if he had…died.

Spyro's heart felt like stopped as he rushed into to where Hunter was with everyone else, but the only thing that he saw were two bright, silver wings next to the fallen cheetah who's pain was finally beginning to subside.

"HUNTER!" Spyro said, although it sounded a little more like 'Hunner' instead.

"Spyro." He said weakly and then fell down onto his side, curling slightly. Chief Prowlus ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, saying,

"What on Earth happened to you?" Hunter didn't respond back. Instead, his eyes were closed as he just lay there in his own pool of now dark-red blood. He was barely even breathing…

**Tell me if this has to go onto Mature Content, it's getting really bloody, isn't it?**

**Poor Hunter D: I feel bad for him! **

**Please review. REVIEW. REVIEW!!! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IT GOOD PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! XD**

**Thanks corny for being the first to review…and help!**


	3. Secrets and Wings

**Next chapter. I might not have any school tomorrow right now as I'm typing this because I live up in New Hampshire, and now that it's winter, it's getting pretty darn cold up here now.**

**Enjoy!**

He had been unconscious now for about five hours, and Spyro never left his side. He was too worried about Hunter. His friend's heart was beating slowly and weakly, and his breathing condition wasn't getting any better. Spyro would just look at Hunter and try to imagine what he looked like on the inside, such as where his heart and lungs where. He knew the anatomy of his friend, but now it changed. Two knew silver wings, a scaly tail, and scales on his stomach area really stumbled everyone. So his anatomy changed.

Although right now Hunter looks as if he lost at least a gallon of blood right now.

Spyro took immediate notice when Hunter's eyes started moving. It looked like he was dreaming…whatever a cheetah has to dream about…but he was really trying to wake up. It was one of those half-awake things, you know, when you're lying down and you know it, and you're trying to move, but you just can't? That's happened to me before. Several times, actually, and it's pretty darn scary, I'll say.

So somehow Hunter managed to gasp to wake himself up, of which scared the heck out of Spyro. It made the purple dragon bring out a small yelp of fright. With his eyes wide open now, Hunter looked around himself, seeing that he was on a bed inside of another hut. This time, it was his friend's house. Meadow. He was in Meadow's house, and he knew how Meadow felt about with _anybody_ being in his house. But in this case, it was a…_ahem_…"state of emergency"…so Meadow will obviously let Hunter be in his house.

"Hunter? Are you alright?" Spyro asked, standing up.

Hunter just looked at his friend, panting deeply. He closed his eyes as the pain from his two wings rocketed to his brain, making him feel like screaming again, only to realize that he couldn't. He pretty much just wore out his vocal chords from everything that had just happen.

"Just a little sore…" He said quietly.

"I can't bare to look at you in so much pain, Hunter."

"Screaming just helps, my friend. But now I can't scream…I hurt to much to do so." There was a long silence in between them.

"What is it that's happening to me?" Hunter asked.

"We don't know, but half of you just turned into a dragon. It stopped once your…wings…came out." Hunter closed his eyes again and set his head down on the pillow.

After a while, Spyro began to notice that Hunter was beginning to breath much faster than normal, but he wasn't panting. He kept it going on for a few minutes, until it sparked Spyro's curiosity, and then he asked, "Are you okay? You're breathing rather…fast."

"I can't breathe."

"What? You're breathing just fine."

"No, I can't _breathe_." Hunter sat upright and held a hand to his chest.

"I don't understand." Spyro said, looking at Hunter awkwardly.

"I'm having an asthma attack." Hunter said and tried desperately to breathe.

So Spyro has no idea what an asthma attack is, but it was pretty self-explanatory since Hunter was breathing, but wasn't taking in any oxygen.

Spyro ran outside to get Chief Prowlus, but when he opened the door, he actually ran into him and knocked him to the ground by accident. But before he could stand up, Spyro said in a rather panicking tone, "Hunter having an asthma attack and I have no clue what to do!"

Everything was just happening so quickly. So get again, before the Chief could stand up, Meadow comes up in the scene and quickly enters his house with Spyro literally right behind him.

Spyro stayed next to Hunter as Meadow started going through something that was out of the dragon's sight, but he could hear that he was rummaging for something.

Hunter was still gasping for breath and was starting to become dizzy.

When meadow came out again, he had an inhaler and ran up to Hunter. The poor cat was now a little confused and frightened. First of all, he collapsed and then woke up with pain rocketing itself throughout his entire body, then his tail lost it's fur and turned into a thin, whip-like tail, and two wings ripped themselves (literally) from his back. Now he was having a friggin' asthma attack and he couldn't even hold the inhaler that would make him breathe again by dilating the bronchial tubes.

Hunter breathed in with the life-saving inhaler and immediately knew to hold his breath for about ten seconds while Meadow started shaking it again. He exhaled and breathed in again, held his breath, then exhaled. Meadow sat down on the bed with him and put an arm around his friend. "Are you alright, Hunter?" Hunter just started breathing more slowly but deeply, trying to get his breathing under control.

"I think so, Meadow. Thank you…" Hunter leaned his head on his friend's shoulder and just breathed easily for a while. Meadow had always been like the big brother that Hunter never had. They had grown up together side-by-side, and even when he had heart failure, Meadow was there and always made sure that he was alright. In fact, meadow always kept an extra of Hunter's asthma medication and anything else that he has to have just to make sure. Meadow has like, two of every medication just in case if his friend ever needs it. Most of them he's had to make himself from certain plants and minerals, of which of course, yeah, was pretty darn time-consuming, but he did it anyway.

So now Spyro was here, completely confused as to what was happen.

"Okay, so what exactly is an asthma attack?" Spyro asked, walking up to Meadow. So then that makes Meadow have to explain everything about an asthma attack, and Hunter was only get more and more tired. So after a long time of explaining, Spyro finally understood.

Hours later after that small panic-fright thing, Hunter asleep again and Spyro was flying over the village, just for the heck of it. Oh, how he loved flying. It was just so peaceful right now, although Spyro began to annoy some people. Don't ask how, it was just starting to annoy them, but Spyro just ignored the other cheetahs and continued flying around.

For three straight days, Hunter remained laying down in bed, feeling better each hour. Every now and then, his wings would bleed, but that was just a small thing. Eventually, he began to be able to speak more clearly. He could breathe better, his eyesight became better, but still, sometimes he would just go into massive pain. Then it would stop abruptly, and wouldn't come back until three hours later. But all-in-all, he was doing better. Thanks to Spyro, Cynder, and Meadow. He guessed that he also had to thank Sparx since he was a real comic-relief person. For some reason though, Chief Prowlus didn't seem to care about hunter's condition.

Sometimes it looks as if he doesn't care at all about Hunter.

"Chief Prowlus," Spyro said, walking up to the cheetah who was started a fire. It was dark outside now, and everything was just quiet. "why are you acting as if you don't care about Hunter?" At first, he ignored Spyro, but once he got a fire going, he said,

"Hunter is…well he's…" He sighed and sat down near the fire, trying to find the correct words. "Spyro, come. Please just sit down here with me." So Spyro did so. He gazed into the fire, listening to Prowlus said, "Hunter is extremely tough and strong, he'll make it through anything."

"That's not why you're ignoring him when we're all worried sick about him."

"You're right, Spyro. He sure does have a strong fascination with dragons, and I remember him saying something to Meadow a while ago that _he_ would rather be a _dragon_ than a cheetah."

"So? I can see why he would want to be a dragon."

"That's not the reason either, Spyro. He kept on disappearing from the village without warning. He wouldn't tell any of us when he left, and he wouldn't come back for hours. When he _did_ come back, it was early morning. He kept on leaving while everyone was asleep, and he always came back with nothing. Left with nothing, came back with nothing. We all got frustrated in him and he 'laid the law' down on him. He's never left since."

"So that's why you're not worried about him? That's why you don't like him? _That's_ why?" Spyro said in a low tone.

"No." Prowlus replied. "He came back one morning, covered in blood, and my daughter was missing."

"You had a…child?" Suddenly, Spyro's entire body just fell into sympathy.

"A young daughter who loved dragons to the point where I had to take her to the dragon city. She was so fascinated by them; all what she drew and painting was dragons. She wanted to know everything about them. She was best friends with Hunter, and then he left one night…and I think that he took my daughter. I think that he murdered her."

"Murdered her? I know Hunter…he wouldn't do anything like that. And besides, you said that she was best friends with him. Why would he just leave in the middle of the night with his best friend and then kill her?"

"Hunter is ten years older than her! I know that he took her and I _know_ that he killed her."

"But don't you think that he would be smart enough to clean himself off?"

"No. He killed my daughter…but I've always been too stricken with grief to do anything to him. I know that she loved him, and I doubt that she would want me to do something bad with him…even if he's the one responsible. After that night…Hunter never left again like that." Spyro just looked into the flames of the fire, not believing what he was hearing. Hunter is not a murderer, and he wouldn't do anything bad like that.

On the forth day, Hunter had enough strength to at least attempt standing. Nothing seemed to feel correct anymore since the two wings appeared…and his tail now like a scaly silver whip…and his feet now scaly, digigrade dragon feet with claws so sharp that they could cut through steel…so nothing felt right anymore.

After about an hour of staggering around and having to be held up by his friend, Hunter managed to walk on his own again, and was at least a full four inches taller than usual…thanks to the shift of the kind of feet. (Did that make sense?)

Hunter came outside for the first time in about four days and took in a deep breath of the fresh air. Meadow, Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx were beside him, making sure that he was alright. Everyone else just watched with a weary eye. Everybody except Chief Prowlus.

Prowlus just gave Hunter a death-glare when no one else was looking. He grabbed hold of his ax, having the terribly strong temptation to just whack it against the cheetah's head, but then his grip loosened and he closed his eyes.

"If Hunter really was the one who killed you, Cindy, then I want to kill Hunter more than ever." He said to himself.

**:O Chief Prowlus is a homicidal maniac! O_O Bet you weren't expecting THAT to happen.**

**Poor Hunter…this cheetah's gonna have a hard time.**

**I promise that in the next chapter you'll hear Hunter MEOW! XD**


	4. Trapped

**I honestly have no clue how many chapters I'm going to write for this series, but I had about 85 hits in four days! WOOT WOOT **dance party****

**XD**

**Enjoy!**

It was now nighttime and everyone was gathered around the large fire pit. Spyro could tell that Hunter didn't feel all so comfortable being out in front of everyone like this, but he went through it okay. Spyro began to notice the scornful glares from Prowlus again. Even though that they weren't directed to him, they still made him uneasy. Even with the laughter and chatter of others, he was still frightened by the sight of something like that. Spyro just knocked his mind off of it and decided to join the laughter of everyone else.

"Your faith in your mother is your weakness…" One of the other cheetahs said to Meadow.

"What?"

"I said, yo mama is so ugly she put the 'ug' in 'ugnog.'" Despite how stupid it sounded, everyone…including Meadow…laughed.

"Yo mamma so big that not even sheets could cover her!" Alright, so no one laughed at that.

"Does that even make sense?"

"It means that she's like a mattress. If sheets don't fit over a mattress…"

"Yo mamma fight…" Hunter said, making everyone laugh again.

"YO MAMMA WAS A HAMASTER AND YOUR FATHER REEKED OF ELDEBERRIES!!" Meadow said as if he were drunk, which wasn't too far from the truth. Actually, scratch that. He _was_ drunk.

"Guys, I'll be right back." Spyro said through his laughter. He walked behind Hunter, but accidentally stepped on his friend's tail. Hunter literally JUMPED in the air and did a really loud, "MEERAW!" Kind of thing. You know when a cat does that really high-pitch 'meow' thing? Think of like…meeeoooaaarrr! Oh, whatever. It just sounded funny.

But he screamed, "MEERAW!" and jumped at least five feet in the air and landed on all fours. Well, err…sort of. Spyro yelped in surprise along with everyone else at the quick performance.

"Whoa, dude. You…meowed." Sparx said before bursting out in laughter.

"Never step on my tail. It causes me to scream like that." Spyro just joined in with the laughter.

"Hey, you want to know what else makes Hunter meow?" A random cheetah said, then pulled on Hunter's tail. It didn't step on it; he _pulled_ it. Hunter did a soft, but very high-pitch, "Meow." Although it sounded more like, "Meew?" Sort of…use your imagination.

"Let go of my tail." Hunter said sternly, only to get a bunch of laughter from everyone else. The poor cat clung onto his tail and tried not to laugh. His 'meows' always sounded hysterical!

Hours later, when everybody was asleep, Prowlus walked outside and glared over at Hunter's hut. He knew that inside, he had his two favorite little dragons, Spyro and Cynder, somehow under the covers in the bed with him. Somehow he would make them fit…and the only way how he could actually sleep good is when there's something that relates to a dragon inside. Hence the dragons statues and paintings…and necklaces…whatever.

Inside of the hut, Hunter started dreaming. Spyro was wrapped up in his arms as if he were hugging him, and Cynder was in the same embrace with Spyro, so the three of them were together, sleeping peacefully. Small whimpers like a puppy were coming from Hunter as his chest jolted with each one. His paws were twitching, along with his tail and ears. Spyro and Cynder were completely unaware of the movements.

Prowlus grabbed his ax and looked in through Hunter's window. When he saw that he _did_ have the two dragons with him, he just sighed and made his way back to his hut. "I'll kill you later." He said to himself.

Once the morning came, Hunter, Spyro, and Cynder were the first to awake, and the first to come out of their hut. The sun was barely even up, and Cynder was barely even awake. She kissed Spyro lightly and went back into the hut to sleep for a little while more on Hunter's bed.

"Hunter, there's something I need to ask you."

"You can ask me anything, my friend. I might not always have the answer." He smiled warmly at the purple dragon as they walked around the village.

"Did you know anyone by the Cindy?" Hunter's smile vanished instantly.

"Prowlus told you, didn't he?"

"He did." Hunter sighed.

"My friend, the reason why I would leave at nighttime was because Cindy, Prowlus' daughter, wanted to go through the forest. I took her out there whenever she wanted to. She trusted me more than her own father. So I would take her out into the forest, and we would do whatever we felt like in there. But then one day, I went out into the forest with her and we were attacked by apes. I know that you defeated the apes, Spyro, but this was before you even set out on your quest, I'm sure. I tried to protect her, but I didn't have any other weapon other than myself. So I got covered and stained with blood of the apes, but when I finally got to Cindy, I tried to carry her away, but I didn't realize at the moment that she was dead. They drove me off and I was forced to leave Cindy behind. I ran back to the village and I told Chief Prowlus, but he didn't listen. He had gone into a state of depression and wasn't out of it for weeks. Then he blamed _me_ for it, and said that I killed her, but I didn't. I protested against what he said, but soon he turned the entire village on me. The only one who refused to believe what Prowlus was saying was Meadow."

Spyro was silent for a while. He could just tell, _by the sound of Hunter's voice_, that he wasn't lying. Hunter was too wise and faithful to lie. He wouldn't do that.

"So Prowlus was lying?"

"That's part of it. But he has a great reason to believe so." Hunter wiped a few tears from his eyes. "It's been years now, and the village began to forgive me, but I am greatly surprised that they didn't force me out of the village. Or worse…kill me."

Spyro stopped right in his tracks.

"Kill you?"

"They would have. And it wouldn't have been quick and painless. They would have either tied me to a stake and burn me, or crucified me. If none of those, then they would have drowned me."

"But…why not something so quick though? Hanging wasn't an option?"

"If they hung me then it would have been quick, but thankfully, they didn't do any of that. I just remained here."

"But_ why_ not something quick?"

"Prowlus believes that if one is sentenced to death then they should suffer a terrible death as a punishment. Either burning, drowning, or crucifying."

"But how could that last one kill you?"

"Exposure to elements…but you would also be suffocating because being liked that, hanging suspended from the ground, you can't seem to catch your breath for some odd reason. I don't know why…." Hunter started trembling and shook his wings a little bit. "Anyway, do you think that you could…teach me how to fly?"

"How to fly? But…okay." Spyro smiled.

While Spyro and Hunter were gone, this was happening.

With his windows covered and very little light, Prowlus just laid down on his bed and thought. "I'm just going to kill him…no matter what. I'm going to avenge my daughter. I love you Cindy…and now because of _him_ you're dead. I should have burned him at the stake years ago."

When the sun was high, Spyro and Hunter returned to the village, very, _very_ unsuccessful. Hunter didn't' learn how to fly. In fact, he didn't even glide. He just fell. No lift, no gain, no gliding, he just fell like a rock. So he was hurting and pretty darn sore, and was using Spyro as some sort of balancing thing. He couldn't really do much after that.

But while they were gone, Hunter had learned how to put his wings 'away,' meaning, he had learned to somehow put his wings into his back. With much concentration, and words of wisdom and advice from Spyro, something just came to him and he learned how to 'take-out' and 'put-away' his wings. He liked it when they were out; they cooled him down whenever they caught a gust of wind, but he decided to keep them in his back this time.

So he just failed pathetically at flying. He learned how to hide-to-show his wings, and how to move them into the correct positions. So that's one thing down…

So now his wings are in his back, and it looks as if they're not even there. _That_ was the amazing thing. No sign whatever of wings…the only thing that looks different is the fact that he has a scaly tail and awkward-looking feet.

But when they came back to the village, well, the rather unexpected happened.

Spyro and Hunter felt something hit the sides of their heads, and they fell to the ground, knocked unconscious.

The purple dragon was carried away and Hunter was dragged to a thick pole, laying there unconscious. They sat him upright and put his hands behind his back, tying them with rope and then tying _that_ around the pole, leaving him trapped. Spyro was put in a cage and put next to the pole that measured about four feet in diameter. Cynder was also in a cage opposite of Spyro, and was beginning to wake up.

They found a use for Sparx and put him in a lantern.

Now that Hunter was unconscious and trapped, he was completely vulnerable.

"Muzzle the dragons." Prowlus commanded. They did so, and put it in such a fashion as to where they could not just simply slip off. It would really take quite some effort just to get it off.

When Hunter finally began to awaken, he tried to move his hands around, only to realize that they were behind his back and tied up. When he heard Prowlus speaking, he decided that perhaps it's best that he remained quiet. He shut his eyes again and just listened closely.

"You know for sure that he killed her?"

"Yes. I will kill him…tonight. Along with his pet dragons as well." That was Prowlus' voice. Then he heard someone stepping close to him. He shot his eyes opened and looked up in panic, only to see Meadow there with his hands behind his back and two other cheetahs having a firm grip on his arms. Meadow was…crying.

"I'm gonna miss you, Hunter." Hunter wasn't able to anything more. He was dragged away out of their sight.

"Meadow…." Hunter whispered, his ears going down flat against his head. "They're not going to kill you…they can't."

"Hunter, good. You're awake." Prowlus said in a deep voice as he approached Hunter. "Tonight you will pay for killing my daughter."

"What? I…didn't kill her, Prowlus…."

"You've been saying that for years, and all what you've been is just a kitten."

"I was once a kitten put not anymore, Chief Prowlus. What are you going to do to Meadow?" Prowlus just looked at him.

"You know, Hunter, I normally either drown, burn, or crucify those who are given the death penalty."

It was just that moment that Spyro and Cynder started to awake.

"In your case, I'm going to torture you to death. You took away that thing that I love most. Now you're going to regret that you even did that."

"The only reason why I went away at nighttime with your daughter was because I had promised her at a point that she would see a dragon. We would go out there in the forest, but one day we were attacked by the dark forces. I tried to _rescue_ your daughter, not kill her. When I actually managed to get to Cindy, she had already been killed. I was going to bring her back, but I was driven away." Prowlus just looked at him.

"You die tonight, Hunter. Make sure that you say hello to Malefore for me."

"Dude, Hunter didn't kill you stupid daughter." Sparx said suddenly from the lantern that he was caged in. "More than likely it was those stupid apes. Trust me, I know. I was captured by one before and then Spyro had to bust in and get me out. Actually it was more like flame me out…he nearly torched me, man. You instead of flippin' over something like that, try to do something a lot more worthwhile. And besides, Spyro and Cynder saved your scaly little tails. Hunter did too since he was the one who led us to the Dragon City, which is how we managed to get to the friggin' Destroyer. So shut up, will you?"

Everyone just fell silent.

**Little long. In fact, it's about three pages on Word Processor.**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Next chapter coming up soon! ;)**


	5. Fight and Flight

**I'm pretty surprised as to how well this story is doing. YAY! :D }:D :D O_O**

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Somehow Prowlus managed to turn the entire village against Hunter. All of them except Meadow were now one hundred percent _certain_ that Hunter murdered Prowlus' daughter. The thing that saddened him most, though, was the fact that he loved Cindy. He was just too weak at the moment to actually save her. That's what pained him the most…and the fact that the only ones who actually believed him were his dragons, Spyro and Cynder, Sparx, and Meadow. That was it. Maybe Fuyuko would understand…but she lives north. Far, _far_ to the north. No one has gone to visit her in ages.

Fuyuko is a cheetah who lives in the Snowy Mountains. Her name literally means 'Child of the Winter.' The elevation of where she lives makes it difficult to climb, and the snow only adds to more dangers. She's like the Ice Queen in those mountains. She never leaves and sings songs to the landscape and it's creatures every morning and every dawn. She's been alone for years, but enjoys it that way. Hunter only met her once, and that was because he had been lost. She led him back to his village, but then before he could thank her, she just disappeared. It's almost as if she didn't want to be thanked.

Hunter's mind was snapped out of it's thoughts as he saw Prowlus grab a long, black whip. His hands were untied, but then he was dragged about twelve feet away from Prowlus, into the open. Two of the cheetahs forced him down on his knees and held his arms out. Hunter dared not to fight back. He just stayed there, waiting for the sting of the whip to bring itself upon his back. He had one thing to say…

"Spyro, don't look." He said sternly before there was a loud crack in the air. Hunter jolted and clenched his teeth tight together with a groan as blood started t be drawn from his back. That wasn't so good since he has wings tucked back in there.

He could hear Spyro and Cynder trying to say something, but the fact that they couldn't open their mouths made it practically impossible to speak. Prowlus rose his arm and whipped Hunter again, making the poor cat jolt each time. The thing is, is that Hunter didn't know when he was going to stop. He never said anything about that.

So then it went past ten times…then twenty…then thirty…then forty. It was to the point when Hunter was now drenched in his own blood, screaming and begging for Prowlus to stop. His voice was now raspy, hoarse, and full of pain. Despite how many times his friend screamed and how many times he told him not to look, Spyro still watched, tears streaming down the purple dragon's face.

"I beg of you, please cease this!" That was when it stopped.

Spyro's rage was building within himself, wanting to burn this thing terribly. He wanted to burn Prowlus for doing this to his friend. Cynder wanted to poison him and stab him with her barbed tail, of which would only inject more poison. He would then die painfully of that, although her anger was forcing her poison to begin to drip from their fangs. It started seeping through her mouth, and she had to wipe it off. If just an _ounce_ of that stuff got inside of a cheetah, they would be sick for weeks.

Prowlus dropped the whip and walked up to Hunter, grabbing him roughly by the skin of his neck. "You'll die painfully." He growled into Hunter's ears, his claws digging underneath the skin.

Hunter was shaking in pain and too weak to move himself, so he was dragged by Prowlus over to an end-table size piece of wood. Hunter's head was placed on the block of the wood and he was pinned down. Prowlus grabbed the ax beside him.

Spyro and Cynder were crying Hunter a river. Sparx was saying, "Are you f***ing crazy?!" The Dragonfly began to panic and tried to break out of the glass, but was unsuccessful.

"_Hunter!"_ Spyro screamed in his head, grabbing onto the muzzle as tight as he could and pulled it with all of his strength. There were a couple snaps, and the muzzle came off. He could speak now.

"HUNTER!" He screamed, taking in a breath.

Prowlus put the ax at the base of Hunter's neck, then rose it slowly.

"What the friggin' heck are you doing?! Move you dam cheetah!" Sparx screeched.

Spyro took in a loud breath and shot an icicle with his Ice Breath out straight at Prowlus' chest. It pierced the cat right through the left lung, just barely missing his heart. Prowlus dropped the ax and fell to the ground. Everyone else in the village rushed to his side, and Hunter fell off to the side.

Cynder managed to break the muzzle off of herself and used her shadow power. Turning into dark light, she went right through the bars. Without that power, she would have not been able to go through. She jumped from the ground and turned back into her normal self, that pried the lock off of Spyro's cage. Once she broke it off, the door flung open and Spyro rushed out. Cynder pounced on one of the cheetahs and bit them on the back, injecting them with poison.

Spyro scared them off by breathing fire.

Spyro ceased his fire. Cynder went up next to him, her tail up high in the air like a scorpion's. She was ready to stab anyone with it…anyone who dared to come closer, that is.

"Hunter didn't do anything to your daughter other than try to rescue her, Prowlus." Spyro hissed.

"You have no need to kill him!" Cynder said in a rather high-pitch voice.

"You have no clue, Spyro, about the amount of damage you just cost us." Prowlus said lowly.

Spyro sat down and said, "You only brought it among yourselves. We're taking Hunter with us to Warfang, the Dragon City, and if you even think about following us you'll all be poisoned by Cynder. I know that she would do that."

That was when they all backed off.

"You'll live of your injuries, Prowlus, but you may have just lost two or three members of your village. That poor unfortunate creature was just poisoned by Cynder and you can't save him now, and now Hunter is leaving." There was a pause for a while as Spyro stood up. "Where's Meadow?"

"Sanctus…Espiritus…" Hunter mumbled from where he was lying on the ground. Spyro and Cynder turned to him and went closer to their friend. "…Sanctus…Espiritus…" He said weakly. "Don't go to Warfang…take me to Sanctus Espiritus…"

"Who's that?"

"Fuyuko…up in the Snowy Mountains." Hunter opened his eyes and looked at Spyro. His bright blue eyes almost brought tears to Spyro's own.

"We'll take care of you, Hunter. We promise."

Hunter rolled over onto his stomach and tried to stand up. But the pain in his back was just too great. He remained slouched over in the position and closed his eyes again, breathing deeply. His wings slowly began emerging from his bloodied back. He opened his eyes again once his wings were completely out, and then he gathered enough strength to stand up.

"Hunter? You can't possibly be thinking about trying to fly again, right?" Sparx said while Cynder whacked the lantern with her horn, cause there a hole to appear in the glass. Sparx flew through it, thanking Cynder.

"Only I know the way to Snowy Mountain. Cynder, if you can use your wind ability to help push me up in the air, perhaps it work.

"What? No way on Earth, Hunter. I'm not going to do that. You're in too much of a bad condition. We'll just--"

"Please, Cynder." Hunter's eyes seemed pitiful right now. This _was_ his only chance at escaping the little homicidal maniac that goes by the name 'Prowlus.' Cynder sighed and said,

"Alright. I'll do it." Hunter sighed relief and placed his ears flat on his head again. Not to show fear, sadness, of submission, but instead it was to show that he was relieved.

"Thank you…Cynder." Spyro threw Hunter is shirt (it had been taken off) and his cape and then leapt in the air, flapping his wings a couple times. He hovered vertically for a moment and waited for Hunter.

When he was ready, the cheetah ran with Cynder and leapt in the air, spreading out his silver, silky-skin wings and flapping them a couple times. With the help of Cynder's wind power, they flew away from the village that was now half-destroyed.

"Hey, wait up for me!" Sparx yelled out, trying to keep up with his friends and brother from another mother.

**Wow, now THAT was rather gory. O_O Hope that it wasn't too bad…anyway, I would really appreciate it if you all reviewed! You don't even have to be a member to review! Just review!**

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	6. Possession

**I bet that you guys wouldn't expect THIS to happen.**

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Back at the cheetah village, everyone woke up at their usual times. Except things were a lot different…

Chief Prowlus was lying down in his bed, the ice crystal removed, and a large bandage wrapped around his chest. He slowly woke up, holding a hand to his head. He sat upright, ignoring the pain in his chest. But when he actually noticed that it was there, he looked down at it funnily. "What the heck happened?" Prowlus shook his head and looked around his room. "I had the worst nightmare last night." He stood up, grabbing his cane for balance. When he got outside, everyone else was awake as well, all looking just as equally confused.

Jackal, one of the huntsmen of the village, walked up to Prowlus and said, "We're all confused about something. We can't seem to remember much of yesterday…and Hunter and Meadow are missing. Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx are gone as well."

"What? They're gone?"

"We were all having these strange dreams last night…did you as well?"

"I dreamt that I was about to kill Hunter, then Spyro shot me with ice."

"I dreamt that I was one of the bystanders watching everything happen, and _you_ were there."

"I was?" Prowlus looked at him in a confused way.

"Everyone seemed to have had the same dream…except, they were all nightmares and they seemed real." Prowlus paused for a moment.

"You know that I would never hurt Hunter, right?"

"I know. But where could they be?" Everyone went quiet all of a sudden. There was a faint whimper from somewhere in one of the huts.

"Shh…do you hear that?" Prowlus said, listening very careful. "Meadow! Is that you?" He yelled, following the sound of the voice. He opened up an abandoned shack and saw Meadow with his hands tied behind his back, his feet in chains tied to something in the ground, and his mouth was closed shut. "Meadow!" Prowlus said, running in with some of the other cheetahs. They untied Meadow and took the chains off, but right when he was freed, he reached for a sword not to far away and threatened everyone with it. They all stood up and backed away from Meadow, seeing the panic and fright in the cat's eyes. "Meadow, calm down, alright?"

"Calm down? How the heck do you think I'm able to 'calm down' right now?! You just killed my best friend!" Everyone grew silent.

"Hunter? Meadow, what happened? Drop the sword, we're not going to hurt you."

"Oh, really? You killed Hunter, Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx! I just know it! But why? _Why_? Hunter didn't kill your daughter! The dark forces did!"

"Hunter is…dead?" All of their ears went flat against their heads.

"You mean you really don't remember?" Meadow said, lowering the sword.

"Meadow, please tell us what happened yesterday. Where's Hunter?" Meadow paused for a long time before telling them that they had all gained up on Hunter and his dragons. Prowlus couldn't believe what he was hearing. He whipped Hunter _forty_ times and then almost _killed_ him.

"…and if you don't believe me, then explain your wound, Prowlus." He looked down at the bandage across his chest.

"I…_I_…killed…Hunter…? No, that couldn't have happened. None of us remember that! Do you suppose…" Their eyes widened. "…do you suppose that we were possessed by one more dark creature in this world?"

"If that be the truth, then perhaps." They all looked to the ground. They _were_ being possessed by some other creature. Prowlus was just too afraid to admit that he knew that Hunter tried to save his daughter's life, but he wouldn't _kill_ him. Prowlus would never do anything like that! No one in the cheetah village would…

"Maybe Hunter isn't dead. In part of my dream last night he sprouted wings and flew away with the help of Spyro and Cynder. Sparx had followed them. They were headed to the Snowy Mountain in search for Fuyuko." One of the cheetahs informed.

"Fuyuko?"

"Hunter had met her a while ago. She's also called the Ice Queen."

"The Ice Queen…"

"You shouldn't go out and set for him. He'll probably just try to kill _you_ instead." Meadow said, dropping his weapon.

This was just so odd…the entire village turned on him (all except Meadow) and yet they all barely remember it. They must have been possessed…they would do NOTHING like that! But if they weren't, then what really happened?

"Face it, Hunter. You're not good at flying." Sparx taunted, watching him flap his wings but having to have Cynder use her power of wind from underneath to make his silver wings like a 'rising parachute.'

"I may agree with you, my friend." Hunter said, feeling his heart throb his body, even through the jolt of the wings.

They landed down on the ground near a stream and rested there for a while. After all, they _did_ fly throughout the entire night. Cynder rested by the water with Sparx while Spyro insisted on cleaning off Hunter's wounds. "He really got you hard, Hunter."

"I know." Hunter said as he hung his shirt and his cape over the branch of a tree. "It still continues to trouble me to think that my own village turned against me. Prowlus isn't nearly that tactful and persuasive to do something like _that_."

"I know. It's just so weird…why would he put me and Cynder in a cage? Did you even see what he was about to do to you?"

"I technically couldn't since I wasn't looking. I was too weak."

"They were…I mean, Prowlus took an ax and lined it up with your neck. He had risen it already at the moment, and then that's when I pierced him with ice." Hunter just looked at him. He was completely unaware of the fact that he almost lost his head.

Hunter's ears went farther down as he heard that news.

"That close?"

"Hunter…" Spyro paused, looking up at him hard for a moment. "…you're lucky to be alive." Hunter took in a breath and put his feet in the cool water of the stream. He folded his wings against his back and kneeled down in the water. When he was kneeling, the water came up to about halfway on his chest. A little less than halfway, actually."

"Soo, Cynder…those were some pretty sweet moves back there." Sparx said to the black dragon.

"Thanks. I like what you said to Prowlus…not that he was listening, or anything. In fact, I think that he was ignoring you."

"Most likely. Anyhow, you want to know a secret?" Cynder looked up at Sparx.

"I guess I'm always up for something like that."

"Okay, good. Hunter told me this one. You know what Hunter _really_ wants?"

"No…." Cynder said, smiling.

"What he really wants is twin baby dragons."

Cynder laughed at what Sparx said.

"Well, tell him I said good luck with that." She laughed a little more to herself.

"_Two_ dragons…from you and Spyro." Cynder stopped laughing and her smile vanished. "He said that he wants to help out with the kids and be their godfather. I laughed at first, but he was serious."

"That's really what he wants, huh? He wants to help our with our kids?"

"I told him that he should have his own. Woops…" Sparx covered his mouth. Cynder just laughed at him. "…well it's true! He's never dated a girl."

"Oh gee, I wonder why. Maybe that's because he's only met three girls in his entire life. That Fuyuko girl, the old lady back at the village, and Cindy." Cynder said sarcastically.

"Exactly! He should hook up with that Fuyuko girl and they should have a bunch of kittens. Problem solved!"

"Maybe Hunter can't have kittens." Sparx tried his hardest not to laugh.

"If that were the case, then man, I feel bad for that guy."

"Sparx, this conversation is getting a little weird…"

"Tell me about it."

Cynder sighed and stared down at the calm water of the stream.

"Hey Hunter," Spyro said. "I never hear you talk about your parents. Is everything alright?" Hunter didn't respond to Spyro. The sudden memory of his mother dying overwhelmed him. He remembered hearing her say, _"Hunter, most things worthwhile aren't easy. Getting over my death is the hardest thing you'll ever have to learn. I love you, my dear Hunter, but don't fret as much as you are right now. I'll be in a good place…Heaven. I'll be with your father. And as long as you never let go, I'm always there with you. I'm always in your heart, and I'm always beside you. A wise old dragon once told me that even in the darkest of time, a light shines. Be that light, Hunter. I love you…goodbye…."_ He remember everything that she said, word-for-word. He remembered that once she closed her large, bright-blue cat eyes, that he just hugged her as tight as he could and he didn't let go for a very long time. He cried as hard as he could, and his small purrs to try to wake her back up were useless.

For the time that he was in the room with her, he kept on hugging her and saying, "Wake up…wake up, Mom…wake up!" He remembers everyone in that room looking down to the ground and holding their hats, bandanas, and pieces of cloth over their heart. Even the tough Chief Prowlus had to show his sympathy. He knew that trying to wake up his dead mother wasn't going to do anything, but he did so anyways. He kept on trying to wake her up, even though nothing happened. It was like his small childish body just couldn't except the fact that his mother was gone.

So then he has everything to thank Meadow's grandmother for. Meadow had to live with his grandmother because his father had left his mother and his mother couldn't take care of him, so that's how he was stuck with them. At first he was very unresponsive. He didn't speak, or eat, or drink. He just sat there, staring at the floor. Then he saw his first dragon in the valley of Avalar, and everything changed after that.

He was snapped from his thoughts when Spyro said his name. "Hunter? Did you hear me?" Hunter shook his head and said,

"Yeah, I heard you. What about my parents, you asked?"

"Yeah." Hunter was quiet for a while.

"They're…dead."

Spyro stopped cleaning Hunter's wounds and he just looked at him. Despite the risk of things happening at this one question, Spyro asked it anyway.

"How did they die?"

"I…don't know how." Hunter smiled a fake smile for a moment and said, "I don't really want to talk about this, Spyro." His smile then quickly vanished, but he remained trying to clean the scars that he could get.

"We don't have to, Hunter. At least you met your parents. I never did. I spent most of my life thinking that I was a Dragonfly because my 'parents' were. So is Sparx…obviously…"

"So you grew up with Dragonflies?"

"I did…and no matter how much I saw my reflection with another Dragonfly's, I still didn't see any difference. I didn't see a difference because I didn't have to. I just thought that I was a really big, purple, flightless Dragonfly." Hunter smiled at his friend. It's nice to hear someone say something like that for once.

**I thought that this chapter was rather boring. :l**

**I promise that the next one will be a lot more interesting than this one!**

**Review, please!**


	7. Meadow

**Here's the next chapter! Please, please review! :D**

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"_Praise thy Allah and to the kingdom of Mecca and may Muhammad bring peace upon us all and cease this war that rages. Jesus be our savior for I praise Allah and the Dragons of the Heavens. Save us all, save my soul, save their souls, and bless thy with peace and wisdom."_ Hunter mumbled to himself. He had been doing this for three hours straight.

It was dark outside now and Cynder was getting quite bored of listening to Hunter mumble endless prayers in English, French, German, Latin (?), and some other language that they just had to guess was Hebrew or Scandinavian.

"How long is he going to continue this?" Sparx said, hovering in front of Spyro.

"He's praying, Sparx. Allow him to do this. Although I'm hearing a mix of religions from him. Islam, Christian, and Jewish…possibly some other thing. Unless if the religion he is is just all put together. I don't know." Spyro said and set his head on the ground.

"Our father who are in Heaven, how thy be thy name, thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is Heaven." Most of what Hunter said didn't really make much sense to the two dragons and Sparx. They didn't really pray, but they knew that Afterlife existed because when Ignitus died, his voice was heard. Those spirits of other purple dragons had also come down and dragged Malefore away. So they were certain that Afterlife existed, but they didn't really pray.

Hunter was a lot different. For three straight hours, he recited things in several different languages. Who would have excepted that he was religious?

Eventually, Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx fell asleep. That was when Hunter decided to stop. He had been down on his knees for quite a while and his hands had been folded for a time longer than he expected. He sighed and stood up, very stiff from the position. He turned around and laid down with his dragons, closing his eyes.

Spyro started whimpering in his sleep, his paws twitching from a dream. His eyes opened up slowly, only to see that Cynder was pressed up against him and they were in Hunter's arms. Spyro began to wonder if they slept this way because they were more protecting. Hunter's really the one who exposed himself to the elements since he curled up in a circle-like shape and always had one arm underneath his dragons and the other over them, as if he were hugging them.

Spyro shifted himself around a little bit so that his back from facing Cynder and that his chest was now pressed up against Hunter's. He could feel Hunter's heartbeat, and it calmed him down from the dream that he just had. They were all just so quiet when they slept…the never made a single noise. Hunter was very warm, and his fur was very soft. Spyro lifted his paw and started to stroke some of his soft fur. Hunter twitched slightly and Spyro brought his paw back down, then just snuggled in warmly with the cheetah's cape over them. Somehow, Cynder tends to takes it all in her sleep. Spyro has no idea how she does that, she just does. More than often, Spyro would have to pull some of it back, only to have it taken away again.

"Sanctus…Espiritus…" Hunter mumbled. Spyro recognized the words who be 'Holy Spirit' in Latin, but why was he dreaming about something like that? Well, perhaps praying for three hours straight had something to do with it.

Once the morning came, Spyro and Hunter were the first to awaken. (Yet again.) When Cynder finally awoke, she found herself lost in Hunter's cape. No one knows how the heck she managed to wrap her entire self in the cape, she just did…by accident. So she tried kicking it off of her, but she was only getting even more stuck. "Hunter! Help!" Cynder said, hearing his footsteps approach. Hunter grapped his cape with one hand and lifted it up. Cynder fell out from the bottom and was dazed for a moment. "Thanks Hunter. I don't know how or why I do that." Hunter just smiled at her.

"It's nothing too bad. At least you stay warm."

"Overheated is the more appropriate way to say it." Cynder stood up and walked over to the stream, taking a couple gulps of water with Spyro.

"So where are we to go after this?" Spyro asked, turning around as Sparx finally awoke.

"To the Snowy Mountain, in search of Fuyuko." Hunter said, putting his cape on. It was still very warm from Cynder's use of it.

"Why are going to find her, anyway?" Sparx said.

"Fuyuko is tied with the lands and would be able to tell us why they attacked you three."

"And nearly killed you." Cynder said. Hunter looked down at her and said,

"I was more concerned for you three than myself."

"Alright. So we're going to fly to this frigid mountain in search of a cheetah…great. Well, we'll do it for you, Hunter. After all, we owe our lives to you."

"And I owe mine to you, too. We all do…you and Cynder saved the world." Hunter said and grabbed his bow-and-arrow.

As they were about to take off, something rustled in the bushes. Hunter grabbed an arrow and readied it. If it was someone from the village other than Meadow, then he would release the arrow. Instead, it wound up being something very unexpected.

"Darned tree roots! Stupid bushes…stupid wood…stupid everything!" It wound up being Meadow.

"Meadow?!" Hunter said. Meadow looked up and almost fell down to his knees when he saw that it was his best friend.

"HUNTER?! I thought you were dead!"

"I thought _you_ were dead!" The two friends hugged each other for a brief moment.

"They left me tied up in a shack. I left the village when they freed me. But I didn't know that I would have wound up here. But now I'm thankful that I did get lost, because now I know that you're alive."

"But why did the village free you, Meadow?"

"They couldn't control themselves. They were possessed by something, and everyone can barely remember yesterday. However, they can remember you being nearly killed." They were all quiet for a while.

"So they were all just possessed? They really weren't going to do that?"

"Prowlus has only killed one person in his entire lifetime, and sure, he's upset at you, but he loves you the same way how he loves me and everyone else in the village. He would never hurt you! Except that time when you returned to the village with Spyro and Cynder after being gone for that extended period of time. That was because he thought that you exposed the village to more attacks."

"And I was deeply sorry for abandoning the village, but I had to find Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx. They were the only ones that could rescue the world. I'd rather be humiliated than die like that."

"You have great reason too, Hunter." Meadow limped past his friend and to the stream. He kneeled down near it and washed his bloody hands off. "Allah blessed you, Hunter. May Jesus be with you…may He be with us all…."

"Who's Allah?" Spyro asked, trying not to be disrespectful.

"Allah means God." Hunter said. "I doubt that you know the ways of our religion."

"We don't. Do you really think that praying will solve anything?"

"It already has. It led me to you three and allowed me to do many other things. Maybe my mother has something to do with it…." Hunter said quietly.

"Yeah, where is your mother?" Sparx said, coming a little too close to Hunter's face. He backed off a little bit and said,

"She's dead." He walked around Sparx, but then there was a loud hissing roar from within the trees. They all got together and looked around themselves, wondering what it was.

"What the heck was that?!" Cynder yelled out.

"Shh." Hunter said. They were all as quiet as they could possibly be. There was then the sound of flapping wings, and the hissing roar again. The ground began shaking and somewhere far out there, the land was beginning to split. The air around them suddenly became far to hot for them, and gusts of winds only made the air's temperature rise. Spyro rose his head and sniffed the air.

"Fire." He said, smelling the burning trees.

"Oh no…" Hunter whispered. Hunter flapped his wings and started to rise.

Spyro grabbed onto Meadow's back and flew away with him with Cynder, Sparx being in the lead.

When Hunter was high enough, he looked behind them and saw the ancient Earth Golem rise from the land miles and miles away. The land over there was splitting in two, magma now flooding the area. He was snapped out of his gaze when Spyro said,

"Hunter, come on!" He turned around and flew away with the others.

**Never mind. This was a rather boring chapter. Maybe next time it'll better!**

**Review, please!**


	8. The Golem

**I sure am writing these chapters fast XD I like to write, as you can see :D**

**Enjoy!**

The Golem was thankfully traveling in the direction opposite of Avalar, so Hunter's 'home' (yeah right) should be safe…for now. Instead of heading towards Avalar, it was heading towards Warfang, the Dragon City, instead.

"Hunter, I need you to come with me to Warfang. We have to stop this thing!" Spyro yelled. "Cynder, I need you to bring Meadow and Sparx back to Avalar. If you can, go to Warfang as soon as possible. We'll be warning the inhabitants!"

"Why can't Hunter bring Meadow back?" Cynder protested.

"Now is not the time to be stubborn, my friend." Hunter said. Cynder sighed and turned around with Sparx, heading for Avalar.

"Come on, Hunter!" Spyro said and practically thrust himself forward, his cheetah friend being right behind him.

When they reached Warfang, they were obviously oblivious (that sounded a little weird) at the incoming danger. Spyro landed down gracefully on the floor, listening to listen yell, "How the heck do I land?!" Spyro looked up and watched Hunter crash on the ground, tumbling forward for a little bit until he managed to catch himself and stand up.

All of the bystanders looked in surprise at Hunter, never seeing a cheetah with dragon's wings before.

"And may I ask, who are you?" A white dragon dressed in a white cloak said. She appeared to be something of high importance in the city…

"My name is Spyro, and this is Hunter." The white dragon looked over to Hunter. Spyro noticed that her eyes got wider. She slowly walked up to him, and when she was close enough, craned her neck down to meet him. She was looking at him hard in the eyes and said in a stern voice,

"Are you Hunter of Avalar?" Hunter was surprised at her.

"Yes, I am."

"I need to speak to you and Spyro…quickly."

"We don't have time for that!" Spyro yelled out, all of the bystanders forming a circle around them. "The Ancient Earth Golem has been risen again and is heading for the city! We need everyone to evacuate!" The white dragon turned around. Despite her friendly appearance, she seemed very intimidating to Spyro because of her size.

"I'm not with anything that has to do with the city, Spyro. But I can at least warn them."

"Well then do it now!" She rose her neck and said,

"Is it the Earth Golem from the time of Malefore?"

"YES!" Hunter and Spyro yelled in unison.

"Oh no…" She whispered. "Spyro, Hunter, quickly! Try to distract it! I'll warn the council!" She lifted her massive wings and rose to the air, flying at suicidal speeds towards the city council.

"Hunter, come on!" Spyro yelled as they started to fly towards the Golem.

"How on Earth of we going to distract something like this?" Hunter called.

"You have your arrows, right?"

"Yeah. What are you getting at?"

"Make the stupid thing blind, then!"

Okay. So Hunter has never tried releasing an arrow from hundreds of feet above the ground, so this was a little awkward, of course. It would be very difficult to just try to get a good angle, never mind actually _getting_ it.

Hunter got one of his arrows ready as they approached the Golem he was moving so quickly that it was rather unbelievable, but for the sake of other lives, Spyro and Hunter would at least try to stall it.

Spyro flew up literally _right in front of it's face _and shot an ice shard out into one of the Golem's eyes. The huge lava monster screeched out in pain, slamming his hand down where he thought that Spyro was, but the purple dragon had moved away fast enough. Hunter released his arrow and stopped directly in the Golem's left eye, causing it to go blind now. Hunter flipped around and flew over to Spyro as they watched the Golem scream and slam into random object, caused by frustration.

"Now what?" Hunter said, holding another arrow.

"Try to shoot an arrow in his mouth." Spyro ordered.

Hunter sighed. "If it will stall it for a little while longer then it is worth a try." He said quietly. He rose another arrow and let it free while the Golem had it's mouth open. It pierced through the throat, forcing a hoarse, ear-splitting scream to emit from him.

Hunter and Spyro covered their ears, slightly stunned by the scream. The Golem started to walk forward again, but this time, Hunter took out _five_ arrows, all getting them ready, pulling back the string on his bow. He let go of them, and they all landed in various places on the Golem's head. That was when he gave up and retreated back into the ground, going away from the city, away from Snowy Mountain, and away from Avalar. But now they have a bigger problem. The Golem had split the land in two, so magma was literally exploded from the ground, catching everything in it's path on fire.

All of the tree, even the sturdiest oaks, were lit up like matches and gone within a matter of seconds. The rocks were melted, and rivers of lava were running towards Warfang.

"Now that's one thing that we can't stop." Hunter said, watching the burning lands down below him. Within minutes, one patch of land was up in fire and then it was just nothing but mere puddles of lava and ash, joining in with the rivers.

"We have to get Cyril and any other dragons that can breathe ice! They can stop this!" Spyro yelled.

The two flew back to Warfang and took stand on a high tower. Everyone down below was now gathered and looking up at Spyro and Hunter. It a little hard to ignore Hunter because he was the tall cat with shining wings next to the world's only purple dragon.

"Listen, everyone!" Spyro said, but his voice wasn't nearly loud enough. "That's not gonna work…Hunter, you tell them. Your voice is louder and deeper."

"Okay. Everyone, listen up!" Everything became quiet as they listened in to the cat and the dragon. "We need every dragon that can breathe an ice element. The Golem went away, but rivers of lava, magma, and fire are spreading out towards the city! If we don't act quickly then the city is going to burn!"

That was when Cyril landed down right behind them, startled the two.

"Just say that you need me and Terrador." Cyril said, rising up slightly with his tail wagging. "Ignorant Golem…causes up quite a ruckus and only speaks a load of rubbish. He could make anything turn into a barbaric society if it weren't for you, Spyro. But now you have Hunter…I don't believe I've introduced myself before?"

"Do it later." Hunter ordered. "Just stop the fire from reaching the city. I don't know of what use I can be."

Cyril thought for a moment.

"Alright then, young cheetah. We'll do our best. Make sure that no one panics, otherwise someone is going to die."

"Well that's a confidence booster." Hunter said and rolled his eyes.

"Just tell them that they'll be fine. Spyro, come with me. We'll get Terrador and the others."

"Yes sir!" Spyro flew away with Cyril, but took one last glance at Hunter.

"Where's Cynder when I need her?" Hunter whispered to himself. "Everyone, I need you to listen to me! Everyth--" There was a loud swishing of air that was overhead that was then followed by a loud crash and an explosion. A building nearby was blown to bits and fell to the ground, just barely missing the crowd.

Hunter rose to the air, only to have something grab onto his back and drag him down to the ground. Hunter screamed as he fell, he being the one to land first.

Whatever was on him as attacking him _hard_. Hunter managed to grab onto whatever was on him and flung him off into another building. It was a creature that he had never seen before….

It was in the shape of a lizard, but was about Spyro's size and didn't have any wings. It had what looked like armor covering it's entire body, but instead, that was actually bone of an extremely touch exoskeleton. They had long tail covered in spikes and talons sharper than daggers. Speaking of daggers, when Hunter ripped his enemy off, he also ripped out of the claws so now it was embedded in his back. He reached back and grimaced in pain as he tore the claw out. He was surprised to see that the claw was a good four inches long and was made out of black bone.

Hunter turned around, really to attack anything that was there, but instead, he only froze in peril.

In front of him was another large, lizard-like creature, except this time, it was bigger than Hunter. He just stood there, staring directly into the eyes of the creature.

After a while of just staring and not really doing anything, everything became quiet. So quiet, that others had surrounded Hunter and the larger creature. Their snouts were just a mere three inches apart, and each could feel each other's breath. Hunter was clueless as to what to do, but then he remember when he was younger, that there was a story of a dragon that intrigued him.

The story was that, there was a dragon who was one time face-to-face with an enemy, and all what he did was scream like dying gibbon monkey and show off his teeth. It had worked, and his enemy was never seen again. The last time the dragon had seen him was when he was running away.

Perhaps hunter should do something like that?

**(For those who don't know what the scream sounds like, remember those Dreadwings from A New Beginning? Remember when they would scream at you? Imagine a slightly lower tone of that. **_**That's**_** what it sounds like.)**

So Hunter did what that dragon did. He opened up his mouth as wide as it could go and did the same exact screech, his ears going down, and his eyes turning into a death-glare.

The creature shook his head and backed up. Hunter stopped and wiped some spit off of his mouth as he watched the creature retreat, only to see that they were all retreating.

"Hold on…I'll get you out of there!" Volteer said in a rather weak tone as he flew overhead, electrocuting the creatures below. Hunter just looked up at the glorious yellow dragon and sighed relief.

**I hope that this wasn't NEARLY as boring as the last. :l Please review!**

**I'm unhappy with the last three chapters D: I think that they're boring! I'll try to make sure that the next will be better. They'll kind Fuyuko in that one. Actually, it might be the other way around. Whatever.**

**Review, please! :D**


	9. A Great Threat and Fuyuko

**Not much else to say. Don't forget to review!**

**Enjoy!**

Volteer landed down in front of Hunter, slowly going up. "I believe I am getting too old for this." The yellow dragon said, focusing his tired eyes down on the cheetah. Volteer's voice now sounded really old, and he wasn't able to speak as much or as fast as he used to. "Hunter? Is that you?" He said, squinting his eyes.

"It's me, Volteer." Hunter bowed to the dragon.

"No need to bow, my friend." Volteer brought his head down to him. "I see that you have wings."

"I don't know why I do. I shouldn't have wings."

"Don't complain, young cheetah. There's a story about a cheetah who turned into a half-dragon and has silver wings. Care to hear?" Hunter cocked his head.

"A story?"

"About something like you. Long ago, the ancient dragon, The Chronicler, had chosen one cheetah to fight alongside the purple dragon and the black dragoness."

"What? Spyro and Cynder?"

"I see that you have made good connections. The rest of the story is about the cheetah and the two dragons fighting the Golem and preventing him from destroying the Earth. If the ancient Earth Golem wasn't stopped, then the planet would be split in two. One half would burn and the other would freeze to death." Hunter's heart started racing like never before.

"Do you think that tale is true, Volteer?"

"I've always had my doubts to the legitimacy of the tales, but now I'm thinking that this one might be true. The one about Spyro was true…perhaps this one is, as well."

"But…that can't be possible! I'm not a savior or anything."

"You, Hunter, rescued Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx. If you didn't then they wouldn't have been able to find their way out of the catacombs, and they would have died." Hunter lowered his head to the ground. "Do not fret, Hunter. We are still not sure of this. Besides…in the story, they had much time to do whatever it is that they had to do."

"But Spyro destroyed the Golem _and_ the Destroyer. The Dark Master is done for, what darkness could possibly be lurking in this world still as of yet?"

"Make sure that you use your sentences correctly. I think that I found an error in there…but anyway, the Golem may not have been the only one. But if it was, then he must have somehow survived or been resurrected." Hunter was silent for a long time. Now he was just staring down at Volteer's feet. The large yellow dragon brought a bony paw underneath the cat's chin and lifted his head. "Hunter, I will not be of the living for much longer…I am becoming too old…but you are ea young one, my friend. You still have many years ahead of yourself. Don't be saddened now. Just wait. Now I must bring you back…."

"Back to where? Everyone else is stopping the flow of lava."

"…Somewhere, Hunter. Come on." The two took to the air and Volteer led him to a tall building where he would be able to see anything from afar. "I want you to stay here, Hunter." And with that, Volteer left.

"Volteer, wait!" He yelled out after him, but Volteer just flew away. "Don't go…." The cat just watched pitifully as the dragon flew away.

After what seemed like hours, Spyro and the other dragons managed to extinguished the fires and make the lava turn to stone. It had really drained Spyro's energy, though…and not just his. It had also taken a toll on Cyril, as well.

"The city should be safe for now." Terrador said, coming up to the dragons. "We must get back to that cheetah. He might be the key to something very important."

"Hunter? What about him?" Spyro asked.

"There's an old story I was told when I was younger. I'll have to explain it to you later, Spyro." Spyro looked down to the ground.

Hunter spotted Spyro from afar and glided down to the dragons.

"Spyro!" He said, landed down in front of his friend.

"Hunter! There's something I have to tell you!"

"I must speak with you, as well, my friend."

"So Hunter is your name?" Terrador said, bringing his head down to the cheetah. "You're not afraid of me."

"I don't have to be." Hunter said back.

"Very well then."

"Volteer explained to me a tale that he had heard of long ago. He said tha--"

"I know, Hunter. I must explain it further to Spyro though…and try to make sense out of it." Terrador replied in his deep tone. That was when he told Spyro and Hunter the tale more detailed, and a heck of a lot longer. During the time, Hunter couldn't really believe what he was hearing. He began to protest against the story but knew that it was true, but for some reason his mind just couldn't cope with that. It's like he wouldn't understand…but yet at the same time he _did_ understand. Mixes of emotions were stirring up inside of the cheetah, and sometimes if the wrong emotions are mixed together, the results can be quite…explosion.

"Hunter, you cannot deny it. It has been foretold by the Chronicler." Terrador said. That was when Hunter just sighed and looked down at Spyro.

"Then if we don't know where the Golem is, how are we to get to it?" Hunter asked.

"We don't. At least not for now. Fuyuko might know something about all of this…now that we know what happened back at the village, she might be able to figure what it was." Spyro said.

"Very well then. Spyro and I will set out for Snowy Mountain, though Terrador, we could use your help." Hunter said, waiting for a response from the dragon.

"I can't tell you how much I want to except the invitation, Hunter, but I cannot. I am growing just too old for things like this. But you are with Spyro, and I know that this dragon is now yours, Hunter. Just as long as you remember that _you_ are also Spyro's."

"I understand, Terrador. We must depart now…" Hunter looked over to Spyro and the two flew away together, just in time.

Just in time because Cynder just arrived with Sparx and said, "Hey, what'd I miss?"

So now that Cynder, Spyro, Sparx, and Hunter are together again, they flew as quick as they could towards the mountain.

The air became thinner and colder as they flew up the mountain. They now had to constantly flap their wings, but the whipping winds made it feel as if their wings were freezing. Down below them, the only thing that covered the ground was snow and rock. Not a single life-form was to be founded.

Spyro, Cynder, and Hunter had to squint their eyes just from the coldness, never mind the winds. The dragon's paws went numb and their wings were getting tired from having to flap in such thin air.

"We'll have to walk from here. The air is getting too thin!" Hunter said as he started spiraling down to the snow. Cynder and Spyro didn't waste anytime going down, either. When the two dragons landed, the snow was literally up to their necks.

"Ugh! Why do _we_ have to be so small?!" Cynder said in frustration as she went up on her hind legs, trying to walk forward. When she realized that it wasn't working, started jumping around instead. She looked like a scaly black rabbit in white snow. When she wasn't really getting anywhere, Hunter walked over to her and picked her up, now cradling the dragon in his strong arms.

"Will do you alright down there, Spyro?" Hunter asked.

"I'll be fine. What about you, Sparx?" Spyro said, turning around. "Sparx?"

"In here!" They all looked over to Hunter's cape. Sparx had wrapped himself up in the soft cloth. "Hunter, I'm freezing cold so whether you like it or not, I'm in your cape! Just be mindful of that…"

"Wow, I didn't think that Sparx knew what 'mindful' meant." Cynder joked sarcastically.

"Shut up, Cynder." Hunter just rolled his eyes over to Spyro.

Alright, so the snow was extremely deep, but it began to thin out as the terrain became rockier. Eventualy, the snow was only up to Hunter's ankles. But still, it was freezing cold and the cheetah was still carrying Cynder. The black dragon honestly didn't want to come down from where she was, because the ground was still going to be cold on her paws. So she wasn't going to ask to be put down on the ground, but she really did have some sympathy for Hunter.

When the ground became even more rockier, dull, and rough, Hunter eventually had to put Cynder down. The dragon could see that it pained Hunter to set his friend down, but he didn't really have much of choice.

They were risking hyperthermia and were beginning to go numb from the coldness. Spyro could just flame the rock that they were climbing, but then that would make the rocks _too_ hot because the snow would have been boiling just for the slightest second and then the rocks would heat up. So the fire really wasn't an option anymore, then….

The steeper it became, the harder it became to climb. Hunter, naturally being a feline, was a great climber. **(A/N: I don't know if cheetahs can actually climb, just go with it! XD)** But then again, Hunter has opposable thumbs and Spyro and Cynder don't.

Once the reached the top of a cliff, they were panting, barely able to even make it up the steep and a jagged rocks. Hunter squeezed his eyes shut and groaned, nearly falling to the ground, as he saw how long the expansion of mountains were.

"Why did I even drag you guys up here?" He said in a rather loud tone that didn't really sound like himself.

"We have to find Fuyuko. That snow back there wasn't so brittle and powdery, as I'm sure you've noticed." Spyro said, looking out of the beautiful lands again. "Is all of the snow like that?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah…it's really rocky here. Avalanches never occur. Why?" Spyro just stared out of the land as the whipping winds froze his wings.

"FUYUKO!!" Spyro said, listening to his voice echo over the land. There wasn't a response, until they heard a voice from afar after a few minutes.

"Who goes there?" The voice echoed, finally hitting their ears.

"The purple dragon!" Spyro screeched out again, waiting for a response.

"The purple dragon?! Look down below! Can you see me?" The voice was faint and still echoing, but the dragon looked out over the mountain that they were on and saw a sparkle down below.

"That's her! That's Fuyuko!" Spyro said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Yeah, that's her, but how the heck are we going to get down there fast enough?" Cynder said, walking up next to Spyro, her teeth chattering.

Spyro looked around and thought for a moment. Perhaps their wings would be able to at least glide them down. Spyro thought that it was worth a shot and jumped in the air, spreading out his orange wings as far as they would go. "Spyro, wait!" Cynder said as she went after him, followed by Hunter.

Thanks to the laws of physics of thin air and gravitational pull, they were going down pretty darn fast. They couldn't see the shining light from Fuyuko anymore, but the black spots on her fur told them where she was.

"Slow down, slow down!" Spyro said as if he were panicking once they came close enough to her. They landed down gracefully…except for Hunter…who plummeting into the snow and had his tail sticking out. Fuyuko started laughing before she helped Hunter out of the mound of snow. When the poor cheetah was uncovered completely, he shook his fur and tried to get the snow off.

"Fuyuko…" He whispered.

Spyro was quite amazed at how this cheetah looked. She didn't really even _look_ like a cheetah. She had snow-white fur, a long, bushy tail, and was dressed in layers and layers of white cloth outlined in a fancy silver design. She had a large staff that she was about as tall as her, and of course, it was white. It had artificial icicles on it, along with an engraved reading on it that was in another language.

"Text en yo la mow, je jee nex ta halla." Hunter said, bowing to Fuyuko.

"Yukalla, Hunter. Me je ya flio philo yo maam commo zina." Fuyuko said to him.

"Une eh regat Spyro et Cynder. Upimfeer jeeology rakat coco hiya." Hunter said back to her.

"Alright, um…guys?" Sparx said. "I don't understand anything you're saying."

"Hunter…you never told us that you could speak another language!" Spyro said excitedly.

"It is the language of Hima, Spyro." Hunter said, then turned back to Fuyuko, speaking the language so fast that it seemed as if just a blur of sounds. They talked back and forward for a while, but even though Spyro couldn't understand what they were saying, he just could just tell that something she said made Hunter angry or frustrated.

"Wollof em." She said, signaling them to follow her.

**I really hope that one was more interesting than the others. Just for the record, I came up with the language. It's completely fake, I just made it up. 'Hima' is actually a name, according to Yahoo! answers, and it means Winter.**

**Please review! **


	10. Hunter's Past

**Don't have much to say, but I have a five foot icicle outside of my window AGAIN. Plus I dove in a giant snow bank :D**

**Enjoy!**

Fuyuko let them into a small lodge surrounded by perhaps the toughest trees that Spyro and Cynder have ever seen. Their branches were so heavy with snow and ice that they were drooping down towards the ground, threatening to break at any time. Fuyuko was smart and did a high-pitch roof top so that the snow wouldn't gather up on the top and cause it to collapse. Instead, the design of a high-pitch roof top made it more difficult for snow to accumulate on it and if it gets too heavy, the snow will roll off. So it was a pretty smart design.

"Sheskeen." Fuyukp said, opening up the door to her wooden lodge. Hunter certainly didn't waste any time going inside. He was shaking so much from the coldness that his teeth were chattering together rather loudly and his wings were numb, wrapped up around his body.

"Sil vous plait." Fuyuko said, taking a towel and rubbing it over Spyro's purple scales. At first, Spyro was trying to figure out what she was doing, but then it quickly dawned on him that she was just simply drying him off. Well, she did an exceptionally good job…especially considering that she even got in between his toes. Then she did the same with Cynder.

Hunter looked around the lodge, his head tucked in his shoulders and his arms crossed. The fire in the fireplace felt so nice up against him. It turned his once numb feet into how they should feel. All around the lodge were beautifully handcrafted wooden sculptures and pictures…many of them containing dragons. There were two brown leather couches near the fireplace that were facing a wooden coffee table. Hunter sat down on the couch, and without thinking, grabbed the nearest blanket and covered himself with it. It was very soft and comfortable, hand-knit, and warm.

"Enjoying my blanket, Hunter?" Fuyuko said." Hunter turned his eyes at her since his snout was buried in the blanket.

"So you do remember me?" Hunter said back.

"How can I forget? You were the little kitten that got lost."

"I wasn't a kitten…."

"You still are a kitten, cheetah. Always will be." Fuyuko said, putting the towel away. "You're going to get the couch all wet with that melted snow. I'd get it off of your fur, you know. Eventually it's going to knot up and that's a very painful experience."

"I don't really care right now." Hunter said, his voice muffled as he spoke into the blanket.

"Fine then. Forget your manners." She said with a small smile, putting her staff away. "You said that you came here for something important, Hunter. But before you do so…I know that you can 'put you wings away'…so do so already!" Hunter sighed. He managed to somehow tuck his wings back into his back, but yet it still didn't look like it. Blood started to stain the blanket, but Hunter still didn't really care.

Fuyuko picked Cynder up, surprising the dragon. She just looked as if she were a puppy or a kitten, just looking her over.

"What are you doing?" She said.

"You're quite the frail dragon, dear." She said, putting the black dragon down. "Such determination you three--"

"Four." Sparx said, crossing his arms.

"…such determination you _four_ had to get here. Tell me, what is it?" She said, sitting down on the couch opposite of Hunter.

Spyro and Cynder sat dangerously close to the fire, shivering fiercely. Hunter glanced over at them.

"Loo encasha ban a lee…Allah haja yo combien." Hunter said, before Fuyuko interrupted him.

"English…so that your friends can understand." Hunter sighed.

"It's quite the frightful story…God may have been watching over me." Hunter began, then told her the rest of the story…even when he was nearly killed. It was only when he got to the Golem part that Fuyuko got interested.

"…then we wound up here…" Hunter finished, looking at her. Fuyuko's white clothes seemed to be reflecting dome of the fire's red and orange glare, giving her a bit of a different look.

"He arose…yet again?" Fuyuko said, really bringing out the Scandinavian-Finnish accent. "Oi vey…" She said, settling back in the couch a little more, crossing her arms. "That's quite disturbing to think that once the Golem rose, your village turned against you. The Great Earth Golem was first summoned by Malefor, but then Malefor died so the Golem shouldn't have come back…unless…" She looked up at Hunter. "…unless if Malefor enchanted the Golem with a spell. Then he would rise again…being more powerful."

"Great, so even after Spyro and I went through all of that trouble just to bring down the Golem, he comes back?" Cynder said.

"I'm afraid so, Cynder." Fuyuko said. "The Golem can't turn best friends against best friends, but he can possess others and make them do what he wants. If that happens, and if he wants someone assassinated, then it'll happen. There will be no escape unless the assassin is killed before he gets to you."

"Well that a confidence booster." Cynder said, rolling her eyes.

"So it won't be able to take over us four…err…five…but it will be able to do so to others?"

"Yes. The bond of friendship is so strong that the Golem can't tear it apart. Which is why if any of you fight each other, you're making perhaps the biggest mistake ever. If you fight, you're dead."

Spyro exchanged a nervous glance with Cynder.

"But we mustn't worry about things like that now. You guys have to eat something. Hope you don't mind mountain goat." Furyuko said. Sparx looked like he was about to throw up.

"Uh…do you have anything…different?"

"Yeah. I have the organs of the goat. The inside of the stomach is really good, believe me! The heart is really irony, though. Still, it tastes rather good."

That was perhaps enough for Sparx.

"I don't think I'll have anything now…." Sparx said while Fuyuko went into a small kitchen-like area.

"There's also the head. Ever had roasted goose head before?" Hunter tried to hold in his laughter as he looked at Sparx and Cynder. The two had faces of disgust of them and looked like they were about to throw up.

"Goose sounds nice." Spyro said, only to have Cynder whack him upside the head in a playful matter.

Hunter laughed at the two and just wrapped himself up more in the blanket. The snow was beginning to knot his fur up now, but he didn't really mind. It wasn't too much effort to get the knots undone.

When Fuyuko had finished making the plates in the fireplace, she gave Spyro perhaps the most diverse dish ever known to Dragonkind. First of all, there were good feet and head, then mountain goat heart in some time of slushy broth, and various other muscles and shanks. Not to mention the ribs…that obviously still had the bone on them. Thankfully for Cynder, she only got steak in the same brown, slushy broth.

Now Hunter? No one knew what he had, but whatever it was, there was a lot of it.

Sparx had little strips of meat. He didn't have to eat so much!

"What is this?" Spyro asked, holding up the goose leg.

"That's the leg of a goose." Fuyuko said.

Cynder made a gagging noise.

Spyro just did a brief surprised expression at it and bit down, biting through the bone. Apparently he didn't realize that he wasn't suppose to eat the _bone_, so everyone was just looking at him in surprise while he was crunching very loudly. "What?" He said.

"You're not suppose to eat the bone…" Fuyuko said, beginning to laugh.

"I'm not?" Spyro just swallowed, not really realizing how strong his jaws were. The bone didn't damage his esophagus or anything, but it surely grossed out Sparx.

"Too late." Hunter said, eating whatever meat it was that he had.

When they were all finished, Hunter started mumbling random prayers again.

"_And to thy city of Bethlehem…" _He said, but was saying much shorter prayers this time. Fuyuko noticed Hunter's rather emotionless state and was just trying to figure out what he was saying, but when he's saying it in Latin, then it's a little hard to understand.

When they were all practically doing nothing, Hunter just laid down on the couch and shivered slightly, wrapping himself up tightly into the blanket.

"Sha shee tec na hococo…doogluna…." Hunter said to her.

Fuyuko stood up and said, "Doogluna." Spyro and Cynder were already on the ground, sleeping side-by-side, pressed up against each other. Spyro his wing over Cynder's back and their tails were intertwined. Sparx was up on the dream catcher, even though he didn't know what it was. Fuyuko sighed and walked into her bedroom, looking at the blizzard outside for a moment. She had specially built house to withstand blizzards, and it's been standing for quite a long time. She slipped underneath her comfortable blankets and fell asleep.

She was woken a couple hours later by faint whimpering noises. At first she ignored them, but then they gradually woke her up. With her eyes closed, she trudged herself out of her bed and into the living room. She thought that it may have been coming from the two dragons, but instead, it was coming from Hunter. She looked at him with curiosity as she listened to the faint, dog-like whimpers and watched his paws twitch. The expression on his face looked as if he was angry, or about to fight something.

Fuyuko sat down on the couch across from Hunter and watched him. "You're dreaming." She said quietly, careful not to make too much noise. The angry expression then turned into one that looked as if he was about to cry. Fuyuko grabbed her staff and put her hands around the topmost part of it. She closed her eyes and thought hard, trying to see what Hunter was dreaming was dreaming of.

Eventually, it came into focus, and what he was dreaming of startled her.

It was a like a living blood bath in that dream. The walls and buildings of Warfang were stained and splattered with blood; bodies of the deceased lying everywhere. There were cheetah, tigers, wolfs, moles, rabbits, but no dragons.

In his dream, he was laying down on his side in a steady river of bright-red blood that was flowing down the street. It was a small stream, like pouring water on a road. His fur was stained red and he was panting. He had been shot by an arrow in the chest, through his heart, and was bleeding badly. All around him were dead creatures, some of them just simply lying on the ground with their mouths open. Others were up against walls, and some were literally cut in half.

Hunter seemed to have been the only living creature there. That is…until a huge, no I mean _huge_, black dragon landed down in front of Hunter. This wasn't Cynder, but he looked a lot like her, just more muscular and had shining scales.

"_You're the only survivor." The dragon said bluntly. Hunter only looked up at him with his eyes, bloody streaming out of his mouth. The dragon smiled at him…but it was a friendly smile. Not one when it looks as if he's about to kill you, but rather it was a reassuring smile, and one that brought relief. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you." He had said, reaching down and grabbing Hunter._

_In the dragon's arms, Hunter was very limp. He couldn't keep his head up and his arm was dangling down towards the ground. It was beating-up that it looked as if it had been rubbed up against a jagged wall._

"_There, there, little one." The large male dragon said. "Don't fret. You'll be alright." With that, the dragon flew away off to a lair._

Then the dream switched suddenly. It changed to Hunter standing in front of Chief Prowlus, except Hunter was holding an arrow and was ready to release it.

"_Kill me if you wish." Prowlus teased. Hunter tensed up and was ready to let go of the arrow at any moment._

"_You can kill me now and go against Allah, or you can lower that arrow and beg for mercy and forgiveness. Sure, I killed Spyro and Cynder, but you've been alone, Hunter. You've always been alone."_

_Tears started dreaming down Hunter's face._

"_I'm the one who killed your parents. They didn't die from diseases, __**I**__ killed them." That was when Hunter had enough. He released the arrow and it went directly through Chief Prowlus' stomach-area. There was just a moment of silence._

"_So this is what you choose, huh, Hunter?" Prowlus said. "May Allah have mercy on your soul." And with that, he fell down to the ground."_

The dream was so frightful that Fuyuko forced herself out of the spiritual trance and looked over to Hunter. He stopped whimpering, and instead, his eyes shot open. "Hunter?" Fuyuko said.

"Sanctus Espiritus…I praise thy Allah…" He whispered to himself.

"Don't worry, it was only a dream." Fuyuko said, but it seemed so much more than a dream.

"Did you see it?" Hunter asked.

"I am the Sanctus Espiritus. Of course I saw your dream, Hunter." Hunter just sighed relief.

"Tell Allah I am sorry." Hunter commanded.

"For what?"

"Just tell him!" There was a pause for a moment.

"Allah, lu ecasha bien Hunter une et regat." Hunter sighed relief as he heard the words.

Fuyuko walked up beside Hunter and kneeled down. "It was just a dream, Hunter. Don't worry." She stroked some of his fur, hoping that she was correct.

Hunter sat upright and looked into the glowing red embers of the dying fire. "How did you keep that fire going?" He asked.

"Pine tree sap. Makes wood burn a lot longer." She sat down next to Hunter and put an arm around him, as if she were hugging him. "You're right, Hunter."

"Right about what?"

"You're not a kitten anymore." She smiled a little bit. "But there's also something that I have to tell you."

"What?" Hunter looked over to her.

"Do you remember your parents?"

"Of course I do, Fuyuko. But I lied to Spyro and Cynder. I told them that they died when I was young. I didn't tell them the truth…should I have?"

"You did it for the sake of your friends, Hunter. That's good enough for me." Hunter looked away from her and down to the ground. A tear fell from his eye as he wiped it away.

"I just miss them so much…I told them…Spyro and Cynder…I told them that I lived my childhood with Meadow and his grandmother. No one ever told them what really happened. And I…I feel guilty for that." Hunter's chest started to quiver.

"Did you tell them where you were from?"

"No…they think that I'm from Avalar…."

"Do you remember _everything_ exactly as it was? Do you remember your parents being slain?" Hunter nodded his head and started quivering, wiping away tears from his eyes.

"I didn't…I didn't get to…to say…good…goodbye." Hunter said through his quivers, trying to burst out in tears like how he used to every night.

What really happened was that when Hunter was only twelve years old, his village, nestled in the Dragon Mountain Range, was attacked. His parents were slain right in front of him, and Hunter was captured. He was a slave for about three years, being tortured and nearly killed, until eventually he managed to escape. Starving and dehydrated, traumatized and wounded, he traveled through the mountain range and made it down into Avalar somehow. When he was founded, he was going through heart failure. He had strained his heart just too much, and then he started collapsing for no reason. Then he started having asthma attacks, and until he was too fed-up with it all, he ran away.

He only wound up being ambushed and captured _again_ and put on Skab's ship. He was there for about two years, so now he was fifteen. Then when Spyro had come and burnt the ship down, he fell into the ocean and washed ashore. With his brothers and sister dead, his parents slain, asthma, and trauma-after-trauma occurring, he just broke down into a heap of fur, tears, and terrible memories.

That was when he became so angry with himself that he punished himself by traveling all the way back to Avalar. No one knows how he managed to find it, but he just did.

When he had returned, he was much stronger, but extremely angry. Depressed and angered, he started learning archery so that he could help recover. Also to release his anger by killing things. When he went back through his entire life, he realized how miserable he was letting himself become. All what he started doing was crying, and becoming extremely unresponsive. The thoughts of his dead family made his mental state brittle, and one slip could end up in a fight. Whenever Hunter got in a fight, he always won. People learned to 'back off' form him.

He's been traumatized one too many times. He _witnessed_ his parents dying…_saw_ their blood slashed up against the floor, and _saw_ his brothers and sister burn to death. He was captured and tortured, forced to do his 'master's' bidding. Then he was freed but captured _again_ and forced to compete with others. He had to fight for his own food, for crying out loud! Then he fell into the ocean and washed up ashore on some random island.

And yet…he's never told Spyro and Cynder how depressed he's been. He's never told them any of it…but now he believes that he should have. He should have told them at least that his parents were murdered. That might make things a little better.

**I know this is long, but I really had to bring in Hunter's past.**

**Please review!**

**Thanks cornys for all your help! If you ever spot anything wrong, just tell me!**


	11. Names

**Next chapter up and running!**

**Enjoy!**

So Hunter's had a pretty darn bad past. He cried for a few minutes, but then managed to gain control over himself. But the just of that blade slicing through the front of his mother's neck…it was just almost too much for the feline to bare. Jus the memory of his older sister being trapped, being _burnt_ to death…it brought tears to the cheetah's eyes. Hunter is the only one remaining out of his entire family…no sisters, no brothers, no cousins…he's the only one.

He's the last.

Spyro's past is a lot different. His parents were driven away from their home when the Dark Armies attacked, and as you all know, Spyro's egg was sent down the Silver River. He then grew up with a family of dragonflies, thinking for his whole life that he _was_ a dragonfly. When he learned to breathe fire, that was when he realized he was a dragon instead. No one really knew what became of his parents and his sister, but they were somewhere out there.

Cynder had the second-most brutal story.

Fuyuko's story was so much different than all of the others. It started off with her being sent down from Heaven a hundred years ago. When she was sent down, she became the Sanctus Espiritus, or _Holy Spirit._ She's lived in the mountains for all of this time and still remained the young age of twenty one. She became the 'Ice Queen' and has protected this mountain range for a hundred years. The reason being? To protect it from Malefor, Cynder, and Gaul. Her raw power of being the Holy Spirit forced other intruders with black hearts to go away, and if they didn't listen, then they would freeze to death. Fuyuko knows of everything about the mountains, and it was really the only safe haven when Malefor was taking over.

She controls the weather and can cause avalanches when she wants to, but in this case, she's enjoying Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Hunter's company. So she caused a blizzard to rage outside so that they would stay for a little while. After all, they don't know that she can control the weather. But once she leaves these mountains, she's practically powerless. She can't control the nature, and is sustainable to illnesses.

Eventually, Hunter finally calmed down and tried to fall back asleep again. For some reason, he felt safe with Fuyuko, and didn't want her to leave.

"Come with me then." She said to Hunter, who gladly followed her, his arms wrapped around his chest. He was shivering slightly.

"This is my side, that's your side." Fuyuko said, pointing to the right side for Hunter. This wasn't really his idea of her staying, but he wouldn't complain. He did what she said and went the farthest on the edge of the bed, wrapping up in a blanket. This felt very awkward….

"What?" Fuyuko said, going closer to him, into the middle of the bed. (Well, she more like rolled into the middle instead.)

"This just feels awkward." He said, regretting that he even asked her to not leave.

"I don't think it does. If you're cold then more blankets is better." She turned over and now had her back facing Hunter.

Hunter then realized that he was _too_ close to the edge and had to back up a little bit, but when he felt Fuyuko's warmth, he went back a little farther until he was nearly touching her.

"I know that you're the Sanctus Espiritus, Fuyuko, but…why were you sent down?" Hunter asked.

"I…I don't really know why. I've been protecting this mountain for about a century…maybe Allah wanted me to protect it." **(A/N: For those who don't know yet, 'Allah' is Arabic for God. I learned that in school. XD) **

"Perhaps He did." Hunter rolled over and was now facing her back. Fuyuko did the same, so now they were facing each other. Fuyuko put a hand on the side of Hunter's face.

"You were so young…and now you're so much older. So much older now…you've matured fully through, I see." Hunter just looked into her eyes.

"Times change quickly." Hunter responded.

"What's it like to be the last one of your family? Without any cousins, aunts, brothers or sisters?" Fuyuko asked, changing the subject.

"It's…lonely." Hunter closed his eyes and buried his snout in the blanket. He shivered a little more as his thin tail wrapped around his scaly feet. Hunter knew that he was officially half-dragon, but he had to learn to hide the scales somehow…like make them retreat back into his skin in some way. He would have to think of that later, though. "I wish that I had my own daughter…that would make things better." Hunter said in a quiet voice as he sighed.

"Who knows, Hunter. Maybe your wish will come true."

"I hope so…" Hunter said in a muffled voice, pressing closer to Fuyuko. She was _so_ much warming than these blankets.

When Hunter woke up, Fuyuko was gone. There was laughter coming the living room.

"That's putting it mildly, isn't it?" Cynder said, still laughing.

Hunter stood up and walked out to where they all were.

"Hey look! Cheetah-man's up!" Sparx said, flying in front of Hunter. "You know, I never noticed that your left eye is half green and half blue…" Sparx said, only to have Hunter walk past him.

"You were dreaming again, Hunter." Spyro said. "Except this time you were screaming."

"Screaming?" Hunter looked at Spyro inquiringly.

"Don't worry…it wasn't very loud." Spyro said with a small flash of a reassuring smile.

"Not very loud? Are you kidding me? It sounded like he was being murdered!" Sparx said.

"SPARX!" Cynder yelled, looking at him angrily.

"Don't worry about him…I've had my fair share of nightmares, as well." Spyro said, walking up beside him.

"What was I screaming? Any words?"

"Not really…more like just a…scream." Spyro said. Hunter's ears went down. He didn't remember screaming in any of his dreams last night.

"Well, on a different subject, looks like the storm is getting too bad outside for any of us to go out." Fuyuko said.

"Guess that means we're stuck here." Cynder said.

"I'm afraid so." Hunter sighed and sat down on the couch. "Look, Spyro, Cynder, there's something I have to tell you."

Spyro looked at Hunter curiously. His friend's ears were down and his eyes showed the emotion of sadness.

"What?" Spyro asked.

"I'm not actually from Avalar…I'm from the Dragon Mountain Range."

"What? But you said you were from Avalar!" Cynder expressed.

"I lied…to all of you. Really, I'm from Dragon Mountain…but my village was invaded and everyone was slain. My parents were murdered and my brothers and sister were executed. I only know that my older sister, Seema, burnt to death in a fire. I don't know how my other siblings were killed…."

"Wait, so you mean to say that _all_ of your family…your parents and brothers and sisters…they're all…gone?" Spyro said, sorrow coming deep inside of him.

"They are…I have no cousins or family…I'm the last. I think that once I'm gone, then my family is completely erased from this world. I was the only survivor, but I was captured and enslaved for three years. Then I escaped and made it to Avalar somehow, but I was too depressed so I ran away. That was when I was captured _again_ and forced to compete with others on Skabb's ship. Then once you burnt it down, Spyro, I was freed, but I fell into the ocean and washed ashore on some deserted island. I then managed to trek my way back to Avalar, and then I was blamed for the death of Prowlus' daughter when the Dark Forces attacked. Like I said before…I am the last…and it's terribly lonely…." Hunter looked back down to the ground.

Cynder jumped up beside him on the couch and sat down, licking the side of Hunter's face.

"You're not alone." She said in a loving voice.

"You're lucky." Spyro said. Hunter looked over at him in confusion.

"Why?" He asked.

"At least you got to know your parents. I never knew mine. I spent my entire childhood growing up, thinking I was a dragonfly when I was really something completely different. I just thought that I was a big purple dragonfly. A _really_ big one…" Spyro smiled. "…so you're lucky to have known your parents." There was a silence for a while.

Fuyuko could see the sadness in their eyes, and a raging snowstorm outside doesn't really do any better. When they weren't looking, she moved her right hand in certain ways and the storm started to thin out. Within a little while, the storm should be almost done.

"I wish that I could at least see Seema one more time…." Hunter said in a very mournful tone.

"Yeah, why is her name 'Seema?'" Sparx said, a hand behind his head.

"She was the first child born from my parents, and they loved her so much, that they gave her a name meaning 'treasure.' So Seema means 'treasure,' and if I remember correctly, it comes from the Hebrew origin." Hunter said.

"So Seema means treasure? What does Hunter mean?" Sparx said, wondering if Hunter's name is something different from what he was thinking.

Hunter just looked at him in a funny way.

"My name means 'one who hunts.'"

"Oh…that what I thought."

Hunter flashed Sparx a fake smile and looked back down to the ground.

"What about my name?" Spyro said. "What does mine mean?"

"Spyro means…_Gift from God and friend of Jesus._" Hunter said.

"Really?" Spyro cocked his head at him. "I always thought that mine meant something that has to do with a…spiral."

Cynder laughed at him. "What about mine, Hunter?" Cynder said. "What does mine mean?"

"Yours mean 'the fire from a dragon's lung.'"

"Are you kidding me?" Cynder said, making everyone's mood brighten up. Hunter was actually smiling a real smile this time.

"Hey, what about mine?" Sparx said, fluttering in front of the cheetah.

"Yours means, 'the light in the darkness.'"

"Are you freaking kidding me?! You must be making that up!" Sparx yelled.

"No!" Hunter said, laughing, shaking his head. "C'est vrai!" Hunter said.

"What?"

"_C'est vrai_ means _It's true_ in French."

"Dude, English. Please." Sparx said.

"Luu encasha bien tu laco top!" Hunter said.

Eventually, the storm started to stop and it became safe to venture outside again. Hunter stood up and put his hood over his head, looking back to Fuyuko. She was all wrapped up in her white cloaks, and Cynder and Spyro had their own little 'blankets' wrapped around their backs.

Now you might all may ask, where is Sparx? He's wrapped up in Fuyuko's scarf at the moment.

"You guys ready?" Fuyuko asked before she opened up the door, grabbing her white staff.

"Yeah, yeah…just open the door." Sparx said in a muffled voice.

When the door opened, it was like a frostbitten chill that just hit hard like rock. Cynder gasped slightly at the sudden feeling before they actually went _outside_ into the snow and wind.

From the moment that they stepped out, Hunter just put his hood over his eyes so that the whipping winds wouldn't make them sting as much as they should have been.

"We should go north. It will lead us to the Imperial City in the Dragon Mountain Range. Hunter, I know what you might be thinking right now, but that was in the past. There's a large city in the Dragon Mountains and they could tell us more about the Golem. There's also something that you might want to see…but I can't tell you until you get there."

Hunter just cocked his head at her. Despite the whipping winds, he was able to comprehend what she was saying.

"If we travel quickly, we should reach it by dusk. You don't want to be caught out in this stuff during the night. Trust me, I can't actually make it any warmer here."

Now _that_ was the truth. She could control the _weather_…not the temperature. So it's normally -20 degrees below zero (F) during the night.

"There's two 'Ice Queens' and whenever the second one wakes up, life is taken away. And I don't mean that I'm going to kill you. The temperature is something that I honestly can't really do much about." Fuyuko said.

This could be a relatively _long_ journey.

**I hope that wasn't too boring, but trust me, it's all worth it! There's going to be a really big surprise in the next chapter. You'll have to wait to find out!**

**(You won't have to wait very long!)**

**Please review!**


	12. Untold Secret

**Not so much else to say besides please review…and have a nice day! In which case thank you for at least clicking on the story!**

**Wow, that sounded like Sparx. O_o**

**Enjoy!**

Spyro and Cynder walked close to each other, the coldness stinging their exposed parts of their body. Their teeth were chattering, and moving around was becoming a little hard, thanks to the coldness. Thankfully they weren't neck-high in snow. This time, the snow was thin, but the ground below was freezing and rather rough because it was rock. The only one who wasn't shivering was Fuyuko. She was immune to coldness, but very prone to anything that was warm. Just sixty degrees (F) will make her feel uncomfortable and she'll have to be near something cool. Now _ninety_ degrees (F) would kill her.

They traveled through the mountain for hours. Hunter didn't realize it, but his eyelashes were freezing over.

"Hunter." Spyro said. "You have icicles on your…eyelashes."

"I do?"

"Yeah." Hunter brushed his hands over his eyes and was a little surprised to see that he _did_ have ice on his eyelashes. Which meant…ice on other parts of his fur.

Cynder just laughed at him, but remained close to Spyro's body. Thankfully she was black and was naturally becoming hotter (since dark colors attract more light and heat things up more) so she wasn't as cold as Spyro…never mind Sparx.

The mountain seemed endless. It just felt like more snow, more rock, and more wind. Hunter remained tough and just walked through it all, not really saying much.

There was a time, though, when they had to climb up a small, jagged cliff, and he wasn't able to have his arms wrapped around his body anymore. He climbed up the cliff with ease, but Spyro and Cynder? They're quite the different case.

"I can't climb things!" Cynder said in a frustrated voice.

"Come on Cynder, you can do it! It's not that high!" Fuyuko said.

"Not that high?! This is like…sixty feet!" Cynder said, backing up away from the cliff. She was the only one left down there…everyone else was up at the top.

"Come on, Cynder!" Hunter encouraged. "We're all waiting for you! Just take you time; don't rush. Go when you feel like it."

"Thanks, Hunter…but it's not really going to do much right now!" Cynder said, still refusing to climb up the cliff.

"She's too afraid to come up." Spyro said softly to Hunter.

"What's she afraid of? Other than heights?" Fuyuko asked, kneeling down beside them. (Hunter was already in that position so that he was eye-level with Spyro.)

"Uh, I don't know. Spiders, that's for sure." Spyro said.

"Well that's great. The only thing that lives up here other than me are the occasional mountain goat that I used up on you guys." Fuyuko said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, you gave that to us!" Spyro protested.

"I know I did…I gave you the parts I thought that you wouldn't mind." Fuyuko winked at him.

"Roasted goose head and goose feet aren't so bad. It was actually pretty good." The purple dragon said with a smile, before Sparx yelled out in disgust,

"Shut up! Will you shut up?!" He was still hidden in the white scarf, his voice being very muffled.

Spyro just rolled his eyes.

"Maybe you should try flying up it!" The purple dragon suggested.

"Fly up it? There's practically no air up here!" Cynder yelled from down where she was. Spyro just sighed.

"You guys really are clueless." Fuyuko said with a smile. "Don't worry, honey. I'll get you up!" Fuyuko moved her hands in a position that looked as if she was doing sign language and mumbled some words in another language to herself.

Cynder steadied herself on the ground as the a small platform below her began to form from ice and snow. She stayed still as the ice made her rise to the top. Fuyuko was very careful in setting Cynder down on the ground. When the black dragoness landed safely, she sighed relief.

"Thank you, Fuyuko." She said, smiling briefly at her.

"Don't worry, Cynder." With that, Fuyuko started to walk away again.

For hours and hours they walked. The snow eventually turned to just rock, and then the air started to get more humid and warmer.

Now they were just descending down the mountain's rocky, jagged side. Fuyuko wasn't able to control the ice or snow (because there's none there DUH) so she was also forced to climb down rather than he lifted down.

Spyro and Cynder were relieved to feel that the air was finally thicker, so now they were able to fly.

Cynder was hovering near Fuyuko, just in case if she slipped, and Spyro was near Hunter, being a 'spotter' for the same thing. Sparx was now out of Fuyuko's scarf and was fluttering back and forth, in-between the two dragons.

"You know I still remember when Spyro was really small." Sparx said. "You still are."

"Gee, thanks Sparx." Spyro said sarcastically.

"Well it's true! You were also really fat. I mea, really. You couldn't even get airborne."

"Sparx…" Spyro said in a warning tone, but his friendly eyes let the dragonfly know that he was kidding.

Finally, the two cheetahs managed to get down the cliff. It was relief for both of them when their feet touched the rocky, dull-colored ground.

Hunter looked up at Spyro and watched his friend land safely down on the ground with Cynder.

"Is everyone alright?" Fuyuko asked, brushing off her arm of whatever the heck could have possibly gotten on it.

"Yeah…yeah, we're okay." Spyro said and looked out at the land over them.

"I remember this place." Hunter said. "This was where Fuyuko found me." He said softly as the landscape slowly became more and more familiar.

The land was just a barren, rocky land, but far off in the distance, there was a rainforest. Fuyuko won't do too good in a rainforest…but if it's the only way to get to the city on Dragon Mountain, then she might as well risk it. Even if she's risking her life…but she knows something that Hunter doesn't, and she must keep it a secret. She knew that Hunter wouldn't believe her if she just verbally told him, so she would have him see it. Really, who would believe her? Most things wouldn't.

The sky was now cloudy and even though the air was warmer, it was still very cool.

For hours and hours, they still continued to walk, until the sky began to darken with the sunset. They didn't want to be caught out at night in this place. It'll still get very cold, and for a small dragonfly, could be potentially deadly.

But while they were walking through the land, Spyro began to think…and started to realize that he doesn't know enough about Hunter. So then he decided to ask some rather simple things…

"Hey Hunter, what's one of your favorite things to do?" Spyro asked, looking up at his friend.

Hunter just looked down, wondering why such a random question came in.

"And I mean like…an activity, or something. Running…swimming…archery…etc." Spyro said.

"I would have to say that swimming is one of my favorite things to do." Hunter said, only to hear a small giggle from Sparx. "What about you?"

"I didn't know that cheetahs could swim." Spyro said, keeping his eyes on the ground for some reason. "I like to fly. And I'm dreadfully terrified of bees…"

Hunter laughed at his friend.

"I'm afraid of…spiders…" Hunter said lowly. Sparx and Fuyuko laughed at the poor feline.

"'Oh look, I'm the great cat Hunter and I'm afraid of spiders!'" Sparx mocked, but Hunter only smiled a fake smile and said,

"What are _you_ afraid of?"

"Me? Nothing! I'm invincible!"

"AH! A GIANT GRUBLIN IS RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!" Cynder fake-yelled, only to listen to Sparx screech and flutter into Hunter's light-brown cape. When he realized that he had been tricked, he stuck his head out from the clothing and yelled,

"That's NOT funny!" But everyone in the group only laughed.

With the rocky ground soon turning into grass, then forest, they began to feel relief. Finally, they were actually getting somewhere close to the city on Dragon Mountain, where Hunter may be reunited with someone.

**OH MY GOSH THAT WAS PERHAPS THE WORST AND MOST BORING CHAPTER I HAVE EVER DONE. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO REVIEW ON THIS ONE IT WAS SO BORING.**


	13. The City

**That last one was SO boring. Thanks cornys for putting in (no review). It was really a boring chapter…perhaps the worst I have ever done.**

**Great, now I'm criticizing myself. Again.**

**Just read this one…it's a heck of a lot better than the last.**

**And I'm not lying.**

**Enjoy is you can!**

Fuyuko had finally begun to get use to this weather. She's was finally beginning to adjust to the warmer air, and as the forest became more dense, the snow started turning into a marshy ground, and the humidity began to skyrocket.

"Fuyuko…are you doing okay?" Spyro asked, his paws swishing the shallow and murky water around.

"I'm fine…thanks." She smiled warmly at him for a moment.

The purple dragon was having fun swishing his feet around, even though the water was only about up to his ankles. He gently splashed in it every now-and-then, gut what he didn't realize is that the others were thinking that he was just tripping. At least they thought that until a bright smile was stretching across his face.

"Are you just playing around?" Cynder said, smiling at him."

"Yup." The dragon replied playfully, splashing Cynder in the face with water.

Spyro stretched his wings to the sky and bent the front end of his body down…stretching like a cat. He yawned as he did so, exposing his razor-sharp teeth and thin, pink tongue.

"So what is this that you want to show me?" Hunter asked Fuyuko, hoping to get an answer.

"You won't believe me even if I told you. But I tell you, once you see it, you're going to cry." Fuyuko said.

"Cry? But…why?"

"I told you…I can't tell you." Hunter only sighed.

"Perhaps it's wiser if I listen to you."

When the sun was completely down, the ground was solid again and they were protected by the trees. There, they fell asleep peacefully, under the watching eye of the Sanctus Espiritus…Fuyuko. She didn't have to sleep, and risked herself of extreme boredom by watching over them while they slept. She noted that whenever Hunter was dreaming, he whimpered and his ears, tail, and paws twitched. Whenever Spyro was asleep, there was never a noise, and whenever he was dreaming, you could just only see his eyes move underneath his eyelids. Whenever Cynder was asleep and dreaming, she growled. (O_O) Sometimes she looked at if she was about to open her mouth and snap someone's arm off. Now Sparx? Never mind…

By the end of the next day, all of them (except Fuyuko) were nearly worn-out tired, trudging themselves up the nearly-flat mountain/hillside. Not too far ahead was the city…

When it finally came into view, the sky was already undergoing it daily change into a beautiful display of blues, pinks, purples, oranges, and reds.

Spyro and Cynder were staring at it wide-mouthed. The entire city was placed firmly against the mountainside. The houses looked like half of what they really were since the rest of them was actually _in_ the mountain. It was placed so well in the ground and the terrain that nothing would slid down or crumble. It was quite the magnificent city, really.

**(A/N: I've seen actual pictures of city and towns like those in books. Apparently they're more common in Europe, but I've never actually been to Europe. I would really like to go, though…)**

Spyro and Cynder flew overheard with Sparx, watching down on Hunter and Fuyuko as they ran a lightning-fast speed towards the city. It was amazing at how fast they could run without tiring.

The city finally neared closer, and once they were at the gates, the two dragons landed down gracefully next to their wingless friends. There were two large, white dragons at the gate, smiling warmly down at them. Overhead, the two dragons flew around without care, just flying for the great pleasure of it, but they were also keeping lookout.

Hunter then found himself unable to take his eyes off of Fuyuko. He started to walk a little slower, until he was behind her, and with his friends flying up overhead, they probably wouldn't notice his gaze towards this semi-goddess. As they continued to walk through the warmer (but still cold) air, his gaze never left her. However, he eventually had to since he felt a sharp pain in his right foot.

He yelped slightly with a small jump, catching their attention. Fuyuko looked back at him and saw him with his foot up and off of the ground.

"Hunter? What's wrong?" Fuyuko said, approaching him. Hunter felt his heart flutter as she came near, but then he grimaced in slight pain. Turns out that he had stepped on a sharp rock, and it pierced through his foot.

"Hunter? Are you okay?" Spyro said, flying down to the cat.

Hunter kneeled down on the ground and saw that it was bleeding heavily, and he probably wouldn't be able to walk again for some time due to the risk of infection.

"Davinsha." Fuyuko said, saying the word 'move' in her native language towards Spyro.

She pushed the little dragon out of the way and examined the bottom of Hunter's foot. She tapped around it lightly to see Hunter's reaction to measure the amount of pain that he was in. This was his reaction…

He took in a deep breath and said, "That hurts…immensely…." through clenched teeth.

"What happened?" Spyro said, walking up beside Fuyuko.

"It looks like something stabbed your foot." The white cheetah said with a confused expression on her face. "You must have stepped on it by accident. Can you walk?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…wait." Sparx said, fluttering around the three. "You mean to say that Hunter…_this_ Hunter…the 'great ole mighty cat'…the one who _always_ watches where he steps…just stepped on something potentially harmful?" Sparx teased, a smile forming on his face. "Dude, that's not right."

"I was looking up for a moment!" Hunter shot back quickly, blowing on him for a moment so that he wasn't so close.

"That doesn't matter now." Fuyuko said. "The city isn't that far away. Maybe you can still walk to it. It's too bad that our little 'draco violetus' et 'draco vanatackus' are big enough to carry you. I don't think that I can heal this either…I've never been good at healing things, anyhow." Fuyuko said and stood up, using her cane as a balance.

Hunter got up on his left foot, then tried to apply pressure on the other. Pain rocketed throughout his leg as he did so, so he quickly limped back on his left foot. When normal walking didn't seem to work, he started hopping on his left foot, and he was falling behind too much.

"Fuyuko, wait!" Spyro called out, getting her attention.

Hunter remained leaning on his left foot with his right above the ground. He was now refraining from walking anymore until they discovered an easier way for him.

Fuyuko walked up to this large feline and offered him her staff.

"Use it as a cane…even though it's almost your height." Hunter accepted it and started limping on his left foot, replacing the right one with the staff.

Because of the injury, it was going to take them an even longer time to get to the city. It was nearly impossible to climb up the rocks that led to the gates, and what should have been an even two hours, took well over five.

Spyro listened to Hunter groan in pain as he rested upon the rock. It was very steep, but thankfully the rocks weren't brittle.

Fuyuko waited atop of the cliff, keeping lookout for anything dangerous.

"Spyro…I'm sorry." Hunter said, looking down at foot that had begun to bleed again. "I'm afraid I can't move much more. This cliff is too steep, and I'm getting too weak. Just go to the city." Hunter said.

"No! We're not leaving you." Spyro protested. "You can fly there, right? Why didn't you fly earlier?"

"Because, Spyro…I just couldn't. I'm getting too tired…too weak…to do anything right now. I'm sorry." Hunter closed his eyes and put his hand on his forehead, sighing deeply.

"We're not leaving without you." Spyro said again in a stern voice, standing beside him.

"Spyro, you're not understanding. It's not just my paw…it's becoming infected and it's forcing my entire leg to hurt. I can't climb up things like this when I'm as weak as I am right now. Just please, go with Fuyuko, Cynder, and Sparx. Fuyuko is smart enough to know how to get around other obstacles. You can come back here later."

"Hunter…no. They can all make it to the city, I'll stay here with you." Hunter looked at his purple dragon, who was now sitting on the ground.

"Hey! What's the holdup?!" Cynder yelled from the top of the cliff.

"Hunter's too weak to climb anymore! He can't even bring his wings out! Just go the city! We'll remain here! Get help…or something!" Spyro yelled.

"What do you mean?" Cynder said, her voice echoing down.

"Go to the city and get help! Hunter's not doing too good!"

"Okay!" Cynder left with Sparx and Fuyuko.

"Hunter, are you okay?" Spyro said softly, covering him with his right wing to protect him from the cold.

"I'm fine…I'll be fine…just need to rest, is all." The cat wasn't looking too good. Any infection could easily spread quickly. Spyro knew that cats are very prone to diseases, so no matter how strong Hunter is, he's always at the mercy of sicknesses. _That's_ something he can't fight off.

Cynder and Fuyuko walked a _long_ way to get to the gates of the city. When they arrived, the guards there were just standing like statues, giving Cynder an eerie feeling.

They approached at the snow-white dragons slowly. Fuyuko was the first and only to bow at them, and then said in her native language,

"Too en kinaka bien?" The two dragons looked at each other.

"Yes…we speak English."

"Good…my name is Fuyuko, the Ice Queen of the northernmost mountains. This is Cynder, once the terror of the skies, but now the world's savior with a kind heart. We come here to speak with Zeus about this strange phenomenon that has been occurring. But first, we ask of assistance for our friend. He is still on the cliff with the purple dragon, Spyro, and is wounded. He is too weak to climb up anymore, and he must come here." Fuyuko informed.

The dragons looked at each other and then out to the distance.

"You've traveled quite the long way, young goddess. Please, come inside. I'll guide you to Zeus and inform him about your friend."

"Merci, mon ami." Fuyuko said, signaling Cynder to come.

When they walked inside, they were amazed to see that the entire city was made out of stone and only stone, and the carving and the just all of the artwork on the walls and the patterns and mosaics on the floor…it was all just so amazing. It would take anyone's breath away.

"This city was built in honor of God, but what had started off as a small village then grew. Now thousands live here, and our leader, Zeus, is the most kind dragon you may ever meet." The white dragon said while he guided them through the beautiful city.

When they arrived to a Parthenon-looking building, they were instantly greeted by the friendly dragons and guided inside. The interior was beautiful, hand-carved out of gold, emerald, pearls, amethyst, rubies, and other gems that Cynder has never even heard of before. It was very tall, stretching at least a hundred feet like some sort of cathedral.

"My great friend, Zeus," The white dragon said, opening up the doors to the room where Zeus was. "You have three visitors was rather bad news."

"Bad news?" Zeus said, turning around.

To Cynder and Sparx's surprise, he was a type of dragon that they had never seen before. He was _huge_, had a very long neck with a white, furry mane flowing down it. The mane then stretched out into fur on the rest of his body, but his underside remained scaled as well as his face. He had no wings, was extremely long, and had four, very short legs. He had stag-like horns on his head.

His entire body was white, and he had piercing blue eyes.

"Since when is there ever bad news?" He said, gazing downward. "Fuyuko? What are you doing here?"

"First of all, let me just get things straight. I have a great friend of mine who is wounded and is with Spyro, the purple dragon, on the cliff nearby. His name is Hunter and he is too weak to climb anymore, and he needs a dragon to get him out." Fuyuko said.

"Spyro? The purple dragon? Is that young dragon not capable of getting him out?"

"He's only my size." Cynder said. Zeus looked down at her.

"He's not that small…is he?"

"Trust me, Zeus, he is."

"Oh my…I always imagined him as a large, purple, Asian dragon covered in purple fur."

"He's quite the opposite." Sparx said. "You see, he's small, has wings, and is a complete bed-hog." Sparx finished.

"Please, just get the two off of the cliff. Hunter must be the one to speak to you of such strange disturbances that he has just gone through. The only reason why he should be the one to tell you? Well, maybe you should see how he looks first…" Fuyuko said.

"How he looks? Was he…I mean, is he…?" Zeus' eyes widened.

"Yes…he is half-dragon now."

"Well then, we must get to him promptly! Raravine, Gordon, Heeliantha, Heather, go get Hunter and Spyro. Bring them back here and tend to Hunter's wounds. Make sure that Spyro is alright as well. Now go!" The four dragons raced out of where they were and disappeared through the doors.

The Asian dragon looked back down at Fuyuko and Cynder. They both seemed to have been rather tired from the long journey…

"Come with me. You shall both bathe and get new clothing."

Fuyuko and Cynder looked at each other, then followed Zeus.

**Chapter done! Just so you know, 'Zeus' is pronounced at 'zoos' so don't pronounce it as some whacky thing like 'zee-us' because that just sounds like 'see us.' Whatever.**

**He also has nothing to do with the ancient Greek god, Zeus. Zeus is just his name. I'm going to bring in lots of other Greek names as well, so if you see these names, here's the pronunciations!**

**Aphrodite: Af-ro-dite-ee**

**Craytos: Kray-tos ('o' being pronounced as long)**

**Poseidon: Pus-eye-den (hehe) also pronounced as Pos-eye-don.**

**Hope that can clear some things up. Those names will occur later on the story. Kay? ;)**

**Review, please!**


	14. Aphrodite's Rescue

**Well, here's the next chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

Hunter and Spyro remained on the ledge. The pain in Hunter's leg was really beginning to coarse throughout him, and every minute it only got worse.

Spyro had wrapped both of his wings around his friend in an attempt to keep him warm, but even still, he was shivering. His teeth started chattering together whenever the wind blew, and his scaly tail was wrapped around his leg left.

"Don't worry, they've gone to get help." Spyro said.

"I feel like passing out." Hunter said quickly, sighing, his eye rolling upward.

"You what?" Spyro said, even though he understood perfectly what he had just heard. "No, this is the worst of all times!" Spyro said, then whacked him on his bad foot to keep him awake. Hunter yelped and came back into full consciousness, but his facial expression was practically saying that he wasn't going to make it much longer.

After a while, they started to hear voices. _"Spyrooo! Hunterrr!"_ At first, Spyro thought that he was hearing things because of the wind and the coldness that was biting him like a crocodile. But when he had continued to their names be called, he listened in very closely. When he continued to hear it for several minutes, he called out,

"HEEEY!" The scream carried out for several minutes, flowing over the mountains and hitting the dragon's ears.

One of them, named Heather, pulled up and started hovering in the air.

"Did you guys hear that?" She said.

"Do you think that was them?" Gordon said, his green scales shining in the dim light.

"Could have been…let's go find out." Heather said, leading them in the direction of the sound.

For several minutes, Spyro remained there, waiting to hear something. When he heard nothing, he felt as if he had just wasted his breath. However though, the sound of flapping wings came, and Spyro _knew_ that it was a dragon.

"Do you hear you hear that?" Spyro said. Hunter opened his eyes and moved them so that he was staring out into the distance. His large ears had also managed to catch the sound of the wings.

"Yeah, I do. It sounds like dragons. Dragon's…wings…that is." Hunter said weakly.

They were slightly shocked when he saw a large, golden dragon with golden, feathery wings fly up in front of them. She hovered their for a moment, looking down at them.

"You two must be Spyro and Hunter." She said, extended out her long, feathery neck.

"Yes, we are." Spyro answered. "Could you please get us to the city?"

"Why else do you think I'm here?" She said with a warm smile.

"Who are you?" Spyro asked.

"I'm an Aphrodite, but you can just call me Heather. My leader, Zeus, sent me and my companions to look for you two. Now we've found you." Aphrodite sighed relief and hovered a little closer to them.

Spyro leapt off of the edge and followed Aphrodite…also known as Heather…with the three other dragons back to the city.

Right when they reached the Parthenon-looking building, Aphrodite tried to see if Hunter could apply any weight onto his leg. When she saw that he couldn't, she just sighed and picked him up again, then walked away with the cat in her arms.

Spyro just watched the golden, feathery dragons balance on her hind legs and walk away.

Aphrodite was so beautiful…she matched up with the amount of beauty that Cynder has. She was tall, about eight feet from the tip of the feathers on the side of her head down to the floor, and all of her feathers were either a golden or brown color. They were very…'fluffy'…and warm. They were long feathers, but some of them 'puffed out' and made parts of her look bigger than what they really were.

Her feet had long, fluffy feathers covering them like some sort of cloth. They looked like the feet of those chickens called bantams. Her entire underside was just a smooth covering of skin, outlined by the feathers. Her wings looked like that of a hawk, or a type of falcon, and were golden with a little brown on the tips.

Her face was long, and she had frills of feather on the sides. She had no horns, but the feathers on her head looked a little bit like a hair matted down against stone.

Spyro followed the green dragon, Gordon, into the chamber of Zeus. In there, Cynder and Fuyuko were wrapped up in warm blankets eating a type of yellow, oatmeal-looking food from a very fancy bowl.

Spyro felt his mouth begin to water as the aroma began to surround him.

He was brought out of his daze when Zeus said, "Ah, Spyro!" He said happily, then approached the small dragon. "Wow…you're much different than what I thought you looked like. Cynder wasn't kidding, I see. Please, come in. You too, Gordon.

"Spyro!" Cynder said and jumped off of the large chair to greet the dragon.

Before Spyro knew it, his breath had been knocked out of him at hurricane-force as Cynder slammed herself into him, then pinned him down on the ground. She began to fawning him, licking him all over the place and saying, "Are you alright?! Are you alright?! Are you alright?!"

"I'm okay…Cynder!" Spyro said through his laughter. It was a little hard for him to speak when Cynder was licking him every…even in the mouth. (Not gross to her.)

Spyro playfully pushed her off and kissed her back, both of their tails wagging happily through the air.

"I missed you too, Cynder." Spyro said lovingly.

"What did they do to Hunter?" Fuyuko asked.

"I don't know. Aphrodite just walked away with him, and she was rather fast about it to." Spyro answered.

"Ah, yes…Aphrodite will tend to Hunter. The problem with felines is that they are very prone to sicknesses, and are very fragile when it comes to be so. But I assure you, with Aphrodite helping him, he will be alright. Now come, Spyro, join your friends." Zeus said.

Spyro hopped up with Cynder and got underneath the blanket as Zeus gave him the same food as Fuyuko, Cynder, and Sparx.

"Hey, you got anymore of this stuff?" Sparx said, belching loudly. Spyro glared at his brother and said in a warning tone,

"Show your manners, brother…." To his surprise, Zeus just laughed.

"Of course I can give you more, young Sparx!" The white dragon said happily and trotted off to get Sparx's order.

Back with Hunter, Aphrodite was mixing a small medicine for him out of various plants and nectars. When she was finish, she handed the small to Hunter.

"This medicine will fight off the infection, but it will make you fall asleep. When you wake up, you might be all jittery. It happened to me. Many times, actually." Aphrodite said.

Hunter drank the medicine, but was surprised to see that Aphrodite didn't go back down on all fours.

"Do you always walk upright?" He asked.

"Yeah…I do. It makes me seem taller. I'm about eight feel tall when I stand up." She winked at him.

"I noticed that you have the name of the goddess of love. I also noticed that Zeus has the name of the god of gods." Hunter said.

"Yeah, most people here in this city are named after people from Greece or Rome."

"Where and where?"

"Know your history, Hunter. Now go to sleep." She was about to walk away, until she heard a small meow from Hunter.

It was very faint…kind of like a cat meowing in the distance. She turned around and laughed at him.

"What?" He said.

A thought came into Aphrodite's mind. She walked up to him and started scratching him behind the ears. That old feline trick worked, and he listened to the cat purr.

"Stop it." Hunter insisted. "It makes me purr."

"Yes, but a purring cat is a happy cat." She said quickly.

He didn't mind. He started purring, leaning into the wonderful feeling until he went to sleep. When the feathery, golden dragon knew for sure that he was asleep, she sighed and walked over to a counter. She searched in it for a moment, then when she found a syringe needle, she filled it up with a black liquid and walked back over to Hunter. She quickly injected it into his bad leg, and then quickly pulled it out. She made sure that he was still asleep. She sighed relief when she saw so.

She then stuck the needle in her own arm and filled it with her bright-red blood.

She injected her blood into his arm and watched him closely. She then crushed the needle in her hand and threw it out.

Before she left, she looked back at him, and smiled.

"I'm sure that you're the world's only half dragon that never existed." Aphrodite said, then closed the door and left to meet up with Spyro and Cynder.

**I hope that you guys liked that chapter!**

**Please review! Like…now! :D**


	15. The Perfect Reunion

**Enjoy!**

When Hunter woke up, a bolt of fear rushed through himself…when there was really nothing to be afraid of. He turned around and saw that he was alone in the room, and for some reason he was really scared…very spooked out. A bird chirped outside in it's beautiful song, but it was so sudden that it startled Hunter and caused the cat to hiss at it.

When he realized that it was just a bird, he calmed down slightly. Aphrodite was right; he _was_ jittery and for some reason…scared.

Spyro, Cynder, and Aphrodite walked in through the door into Hunter's room. Hunter hissed at them, sending them what looked like a death glare.

"Whoa, geez! Calm down, Hunter!" Sparx said and hovered near the cat. Hunter swiped at him with his paw and hissed.

"Ahh!" Sparx screamed as the force hit him and knocked him to the ground. "What'd you do that for?!" Sparx said and raced back to Spyro, hiding behind the dragon.

"Aphrodite…may I speak to you, please?" Zeus said. Aphrodite left the room and closed the door.

"Something you want?"

"Did you inject him with your blood?" Zeus asked.

"Yes, and the gave him the medication." Aphrodite answered, listening to Zeus sigh with relief.

"Good. I've never seen a creature like him before…half cheetah, half dragon." There was a silence for a while. "Very well. His blood should mix with yours, and then he'll start acting a little more like a dragon. I wonder what the outcome will be."

"Probably a frightened kitten with dragon wings and dragon feet." Aphrodite said with a small smile. "He'll be fine. Each step that we take will bring him to be more like a dragon."

"Alright, Aphrodite. You should probably go speak to all them." Zeus said.

"Okay." Aphrodte went back into the room and was surprised to see Hunter cradling Spyro in his arms (quite a feat because Spyro barely even fits in his arms) and Cynder was laying down on him.

Fuyuko was just rolling her eyes at their silliness. She got her staff back, and she was now leaning against the wall with it.

"Until the end of time, you're always going to cradle these two dragons, aren't you, Hunter?" Fuyuko said as a joke.

"Yes. I love them." Hunter said, listening to Cynder's giggle.

Aphrodite just raised an eyebrow at them with her mouth slightly open. She shook her head and walked in a little more, closing the door behind her with her tail.

"Look, I know that this reunion is very 'touching' and all, but Fuyuko was telling us that you guys had traveled here not only to discuss the entire freaking 'Golem' issue, but also that you must meet this one person." Aphrodite said, letting her arms droop down. Her feathers on her arms only went down to about her wrists, so it looked like she was wearing some sort of coat on her arms since her hands were nearly barren.

"Yes…who is it that I must see?" Hunter said, letting Spyro jump off of him.

"Hunter…" Fuyuko began, stepping up to him. "…when your family was slain, not everyone perished. There was a survivor, and I'm sure you know her."

Hunter's eyes lit up immediately. Thoughts started racing through his mind as he thought of his older sister, Seema.

"Who is it?! Can I…" Hunter closed his eyes and slowed down his breathing, calming himself down. "…_May_ I see her?"

Fuyuko smiled.

"Let me get her first." Aphrodite said, then left the room.

Spyro's heart was fluttering along with Hunter's, both wanting to desperately see who it is.

After a little while, Aphrodite came back in, but her wing was covering who the person. Before she removed her wing, she said,

"Hunter, you have to promise me a couple things. First of all, promise me that you won't faint or have a heart attack. Secondly, promise me that you'll cry tears of joy because you two have been separated for well over ten years. Ready?" Hunter nodded his head to Aphrodite's words.

Slowly, but gently, Aphrodite lifted her wing. There stood a cheetah with long, black-flowing hair that reached down to just above her tail. Her neck was long, her chest was nearly flat, she was wearing a black dress with no shoes. She was extremely thin and looked as if she swam a lot, but her muscularity wasn't nearly enough to show through her skin.

"Hi Hunter." She said, not even a smile on her face.

"Seema?" Hunter whispered.

There was just silence. Seema just stood there in her black dress and let her black claws dangle on her arms that had what looked like nets on them, tracing back up to the sleeves of the dress that ended at her elbows. She appeared to gave been dressed gothic.

After a while, the two stepped closer to each other, and then once they were close enough, they both held a hand up to each other's faces. Tears started forming in their eyes, but neither wanted to cry.

All of the dragons in the room were startled when they embraced each other and started sobbing loudly over each other's shoulder.

"I thought you were dead…" Hunter said to his older sister. He remembers her being a _lot_ taller, and now he's taller than her. In fact, he has slouch down slightly to hug her correctly.

"I thought that you were killed, Hunter." Seema said, still hanging onto her brother's fur, not letting go. Hunter said something loudly into her shoulder, but it was muffled because his entire face was buried into her.

"Whoop-de-freaking-doo, now we're all together." Sparx said. "So your sister is miss oh-gothica?"

"Sparx!" Spyro yelled at him.

Hunter mumbled something again but no one could understand what it was.

"Sheesh…you reek of perfume." Sparx said. "And your wearing fishing nets. You must listen to heavy metal?"

"Celtic, opera-symphonic-European-metal…." Seema said.

"Symphonic metal? What, is that like hardcore violin?" Sparx shot back in a sarcastic tone.

"Hunter, look…I'm sorry…I'm just so sorry…" Seema said, breaking their embrace. She was facing him now, with her head hanging low. "…I'm your older sister…I'm the one who should've gotten you. I'm just so sorry…"

"Don't be. It's not your fault. It never was your fault. But tell me…how did you escape?" Hunter asked.

"I…I ran. I kicked one of the invaders off of their horse and I stole the horse. I was going to go back to get you, but when things came too close, I knew that I had to go. I had seen them capture you, and I remember you screaming. You were just a little boy, Hunter…you were so small…your voice was much high-pitch back then…and now you're taller than me…and your voice is just so…so…deep." Seema put her head on his chest and just leaned up against him.

"Seema, I never blamed you for what happened."

"But what did they do to you?" Seema asked.

"They had captured me…enslaved and tortured me, but then I escaped after a few years."

"When everyone else died, I got so depressed that a friend of mine…who's a dragon…literally rammed my front door down and actually grabbed onto my feet, pulled me out of my room and out of the house before I could get up, and out into open public. He then roughly grabbed me on the shoulders and held me midair while he stood on his hind legs. Now everyone was watching this depressed, crying cheetah being held up in the air by a dragon. He roared at me so loud that I bet the entire city could hear him. What he said was, _"If you cry anymore, I'm going to skin you, turn you into a fur pelt, and feed your meat to a hungry bear! If you continue being depressed, then I'm going to swipe you with the sharp tip of my tail every morning 'til you stop!"_ I never cried again."

Hunter thought about those words.

"Wait…which dragon was this?" Spyro said.

"My friend, Craytos. He's a black dragon…looks quite frightening, actually. He's the guy who taught me to be tougher and how to be wiser. He taught me to never trust anyone but him, Zeus, Aphrodite, and whoever else my heart belongs to. He humiliated me to the world to teach me lessons about life. He made me work to the point where I would collapse on the ground and then he would slap me whenever I refused to get up, all just to get me to understand that not everything will happen the way I want it to, and that my life could be a lot more miserable than what it already was. He's very strict, but he's loving, and every time he hurts me, later one he curls up with me in his arms…and he kisses me."

"He…_hurt_ you?" Spyro wondered, walking up to her. He was about half of her size, which made him wonder if she ever grew after the night they were separated.

"Yeah…and he did it _a lot_, but I love him. He saved me from killing myself many times, and he gave me something to live for. After years, he came to me one day and apologized for everything, but he told me that he was teaching me valuable lessons. I believe him, and I thank him every day."

"Well, is he still here?" Cynder asked.

"No…the last thing he did to me was tuck me in bed, kiss me on the forehead, said, _"I love you. You're like the daughter I never had."_ and then he walked away and closed the door. But before he left, he looked back at me. His eyes looked very dark, and yet very wet, as if he was about to cry. Then he turned back around and closed the door. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone. He left behind a note that said, _"I leave your life in yours hands now. I've taught you what I've known, and now you have no need of me anymore. Goodbye, Seema."_ That was when I knew that he had left me so that I could carry on my life. He left me the house and everything that was with it. Throughout everything that he's taught me, one of the important things was that crying never brings things back. So I didn't cry. I just threw the note away, applied for a job at a restaurant, and went to bed without anyone to tuck me in. It was as if I never knew him…but yet he was always in my thoughts."

Seema's words were very emotional, and she looked like she was about to cry.

"You miss Craytos, don't you?" Spyro said.

"I do…but we wouldn't be proud of me if I cried when I found out that he was gone. He would be disappointed, so from then on I never cried ever again…until now…but that's because I'm happy. He said that tears of joy and happiness are alright, but tears of sadness or sorrow are never allowed. Tears of anger? If he ever saw tears of anger from me then he would have locked me up in the cellar of my house. That's why I never cried." Seema looked back down to the ground.

"But don't you miss him?" Cynder asked.

"More than you can imagine." Seema said, looking over at the small black dragon. "Anyway, since I came here I actually started to go by a different name. Craytos had begun calling me Athena, so I started to go by that name. But still though…I kept Seema…and all of those days that I dreamt to see by younger brother again finally came true. But you're…half-dragon."

"Athena…" Spyro whispered. "…isn't that the goddess of wisdom?"

"Yes." Seema said. "But now I'm with my brother…and I don't want to leave you ever again, Hunter…." She hugged him again tightly, not letting go.

**:`) So emotional! **

**I hope you guys enjoyed!**


	16. Hunter's Sister

**If anybody has any problems pronouncing some of the names, just tell me!**

**Enjoy!**

That night, Seema "Athena" stayed with Hunter and the two dragons, plus the annoying little dragonfly. Hunter was still hurting slightly from the infection, but it has gotten much better now, thanks to the medication that Aphrodite gave him. Hunter had explained everything to her, and allowed Spyro to tell about the entire 'Malefor' conflict and all. Cynder had just stayed there…remaining quiet…listening to the harps being played in the background.

While they were speaking, somewhere out there far in the distance, far, _far_ away from any other dragons, a black dragon roamed around a charred land.

His scales looked prickly on the neck, and he had huge spikes coming out of his back and all the way down his tail. His long head had elongated spikes, looking similar to a black porcupine's. They went out far behind his head, each being a different length. His eyes were black and his wings were huge, pressed against his side. Giant talons, sharper than daggers, adorned his digigrade feet.

He looked around the smoldering land, once attracted by the large flames. He bent his prickly-spikes neck down and rummaged his snout through some smoldering wood, checking to see what was there. He opened his mouth for a brief moment as he looked up at the sky.

The sun was burning so high and it's merciless rays were raining down upon the black dragon, making him heat like the fire of Hades. The sky was so blue that it was almost sickening to the stomach, making you feel as if you've been on a boat for weeks without ever a break of tossing and turning.

The black lands were once lush, green and inviting. Now they were just charred cinders laid about the trees that were already flat like matchsticks.

He laid down upon the land, knowing that he was too late to rescue anything. He looked up to the sky again, hissing at it as if it were a giant threat. He preferred the cold, wet, rainy days well more than this blistering heat. But all of this exposure to the elements left him even harder, tougher, and more durable.

"I miss you, Seema." He said to himself. "But your life is in your hands, and you don't need me anymore. But maybe…one day…perhaps…we'll meet again, my young feline. We'll meet again." He sprawled out on the land, then thought about scavenging this place for any leftover carcass'.

He had seen the Golem torch this land so quickly that each tree was gone within seconds, and then when it had slammed his fist down on the ground in a failed attempt to swipe him, it was as if a meteor had crashed to the land.

That when was when he, Craytos, had flown away. It took hours for the fire to die down, but eventually it did, and now he's here laying down, ready to scavenge for whatever.

He started rummaging around, then found a carcass of a dead deer. The fur was completely burnt off, and the muscle was attacked so badly by the fire that it all just looked like some sort of rock. But still, food is food, so Craytos bit onto the deer and swallowed it whole.

Later that day, he also managed to find a few more deer, but they were all too burnt to each and all what he would swallowing would be ashes and bone.

He felt as if that he could stop this stop this 'Golem menace,' but he knew that he couldn't do it alone, of course. He's learned the wisdom that _one of us is not nearly as strong as all of us_, but the problem is that he doesn't get along with things very well. In fact, Seema was his only friend, and when he left her, he felt so alone. He misses her everyday, but he doesn't cry because then he's only getting himself all worked up for nothing.

"Zeus must know about this already…" Craytos whispered to himself. "…and if so, then I know that he'll do something about it. Perhaps I should just lay down and rest for the night…." He laid down and curled up in a ball, thinking of Seema.

**The next day…**

Hunter managed to steady himself, feeling much better now than what he did before. He had to go to an audience with Zeus, along with Spyro, Cynder, Fuyuko, Seema, and…ehh…Sparx, even though he doesn't actually have to be there.

He could finally put pressure on his bad foot, which made him very relieved.

When they met up with Zeus, they were in a very sophisticated and yet very beautiful room. The artwork there was amazing, made out of some of the finest gems in the region. Everything was perfectly detailed; even the scales of the dragons on the statues!

Spyro didn't pay much attention to the elaborate room, though. He was too focused about what he was going to say to Zeus.

When they all sat down and got settled, that was when they began discussing with Zeus about the Golem.

"It's returned." Spyro said. "The Golem…the same one that we destroyed in Dragon City…also known as Warfang…all that time ago. That was back when Malefor was in rule, but now Malefor is dead, so we don't know why it must have…emerged again." Spyro finished.

"It was so odd." Cynder said, speaking up. "He just appeared seemingly out of nowhere and set a full forest ablaze and then before you know it, the trees are down like matchsticks, burning into ashes, and joining the lava."

Zeus looked at Cynder. He seemed puzzled by this odd phenomenon.

After hours and hours of a very long (obviously) discussion, Zeus managed to have figured out why such a thing would occur again. He also agreed to evacuate his city since the tremors they've been receiving have been increasing since the Golem returned. It's been going on for quite some time now…but they've all just thought that it was just small earthquakes. Lots and _lots_ of earthquakes, but it's never been anything major.

However though, they did have a 2.5 earthquake on the Richter Scale. No casualties, but now that they think of it, perhaps those small tremors and the earthquake a while ago was caused from the Golem.

That means that…the Golem is nearby. Perhaps _too_ close.

Evacuating the city would be quite difficult, but there's only about five thousand inhabitants…a quarter of them being dragons. They'll all listen to Zeus, however, because this dragon is wise and very clever.

"Since the Golem has returned, it is…most troubling. Malefor's sister was the benevolent and wise one…so it's disturbing to hear that _she_ might be the one behind all of this. If it is not his sister, Eros, then it only leads back to the fact that the Golem may have been reawakened. Now, I'll begin preparations to evacuate the city. I know a safe haven for them." Zeus said, and stood up, ready to walk away.

"Zeus, wait!" Hunter said. "Where are you going to lead the city?"

"The Golem can't stand cold temperature, but not far away from here there's an underground river of magma. He may be there, but he would not come to the surface. Cold weather only stiffens him and forces his body to turn into solid rock. High altitudes such as Fuyuko's mountains deter him away because the weather would force him to turn into rock. Cold places are where we are safest, so Fuyuko, we must bring the city's population to your mountains. It's the best and possibly the only way for us if the Golem is nearby." Zeus answered.

"How far away is this…'river of magma?'" Seema said, stroking Spyro softly on the head.

"It's about two-hundred miles away, which is actually fairly close. The only problem is that it's so far beneath the ground that not much heat is rising through it to the air, which is possibly why we are amongst the cold regions." Zeus said, now leaving the room, making sure his friends were following.

"Fuyuko…" Spyro said, walking up to her. "…there might have to be more people on your mountain than just this city. When I say more, I mean that the whole of Dragon City might have to come. He was so close to destroying that place if we weren't there…but I don't know what your thoughts are on that."

"I say, my friend, that we embark to destroy this creature tomorrow. However, I am not very happy at the thought that _people_ are going to be on my mountain." Fuyuko said.

"What? Anti-social or something?" Sparx said, fluttering in front of her face.

"No, I just don't particularly like the idea of…well…_that_. However though, if they must they must."

"But how do you possibly plan on destroying the Golem?" Spyro asked.

"By luring him to a cold area, then I freeze him with my powers, or at least slow him down, and then_ you_, Spyro, and Cynder, must try to destroy him. The way being? Perhaps a little 'dark power' will do so. If not, then try hacking off pieces of him."

"I don't think it'll work." Spyro said.

"Why so pessimistic?" Fuyuko said, smiling at him.

"Whenever someone has a plan like that, it begins to work, but then it fails halfway through, and things might only get worse…."

"Spyro," Fuyuko said, "You're a lucky lad. It's obvious because you've got a semi-goddess with an outrageous Finnish/French accent that people sometimes can't even understand." Cynder started laughing in the background. Spyro smiled and tried not to laugh, but he does have to admit that it _is_ a little hard sometimes to understand what Fuyuko says, thanks to her accent.

"I would like to say something for once." Seema said. "There's a great friend of mine named Poseidon. He's a dragon that rules the sea, and his son is Polyphemus; the ruler of winds. Poseidon is obviously a water dragon, and Polyphemus is someone we like to call 'wind dragon.' We should find them. But be warned…Poseidon has a second son named Vibius, and he looks like one of those 'killer dolphins' with the blackness and all. He created waterspouts, but at one time he was captured and tortured for years. He transformed into a dolphin and killed everything where he was, of which looked like some sort of factory. He flooded the place and made the sea rise so that he could swim away, but instead he trapped himself inside."

That was when thoughts struck all of them, and the next morning, they would set out for Poseidon, Polyphemus, and Vibius.

Now it's begun.

**Alright, now it's personal! :D**

**Review!**


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